Looking at the Elite 1, Lord Derby Cup and finals series then allocating points, one can rank clubs. The Elite 1 contributes 115 points, the finals 52 and the cup 60. Bear in mind that the cup wasn't held in 2021 and 2022 so it only provided 120 of the 781 in total.
Carcassonne was the top club in all four seasons. Limoux and Lézignan are about the same while Albi is on the rise. Pia did OK for the last two seasons. St Estève - Catalan and Toulouse seem to suffer having their top players in UK competitions.
The French Division 1 named Elite 1 has concluded. The number of sides involved went up from nine to ten. XIII Pia was the new side to join. After 18 rounds, AS Carcassonne was the top side from Albi RL and Limoux Grizzlies. They have a bonus point system that isn't intuitive in my opinion anyway.
The top six then entered a knock out phase. Third to sixth came together and the winners took on the two top sides. That led to those top sides making it to the final. Albi had beaten Carcassonne twice in the regular season but who would prevail in the final?
In a tight game, Albi was heading for an upset victory 6-4 but Carcassonne scored a try with 2 minutes to go and came out on top 8-6. That meant Carcassonne won the treble of League, Cup and Grand Final.
The second division of French RL had Villefranche XIII Aveyron on top, going through the season undefeated. Some teams didn't play the full number of games.
The top six went on to the knock out round, third to sixth played the quarter finals. Then the top two joined for the semi finals and they both progressed to the grand final. Unsurprisingly the undefeated Villefranche team was convincing winners 37-14 over a game Villegailhenc.
You can watch the final through this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igdn9ZZrrEM
The 84th edition of the French cup competition has been held. Preliminary games are played in 2023 and the round of sixteen commenced at the beginning of January 2024. The quarter finals were played in March and that is where we start here.
Lézignan 9-8 Albi (Ht 0-6).
Avignon 16-8 Villeneuve (6-8).
Carcassonne 48-0 St Gaudens (20-0).
St Estève-Catalan 26-20 Limoux (14-10).
Albi has had a slightly better season in the league than Lézignan but fell just short here. The next two have not had a great season but were fortunate to draw each other with Avignon the slightly better side. Carcassonne are a class act and had no trouble against a lower level team. Finally, St Estève-Catalan finshed below Limoux in the league but got up to take this one in a closely fought match.
The semi finals were contested in April and the two games went as follows.
Carcassonne 32-20 St Estève-Catalan (18-8).
Lézignan 33-10 Avignon (16-10).
Hot favourites Carcassonne prevailed here but were given a decent fight. Meanwhile Avignon were unsurprising losers in the other encounter.
The final was held at the end of the month with Carcassonne the likely winner.
Carcassonne 22-6 Lézignan (16-2).
The outcome was as expected but Lézignan made it a contest, especially in the second half. Carcassonne has now won three Lord Derby Cups in a row and four of the last five. Lézignan last won it in 2015, bearing in mind the Cup competition wasn't held for three years between 2020 and 2022.
The full final match can be seen below. Click on the red arrow then on [ ] or YouTube logo to make it larger.
