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.
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