The top French rugby league competition increased in number from ten to eleven for this season with no clubs being relegated. The new team was Villefranche XIII Aveyron, promoted from Elite 2.
Albi came in the top of the Elite 1 league table. Albi had narrowly lost the Lord Derby Cup final but showed they were the best team over the twenty rounds of the league. The last time they took the league title was way back in the 1961-62 season!
Carcassonne have won the league six times since in the previous nine it was held so while that is a fine run, this season they fell just short. St Estève-Catalan came together in the 2000-01 season and have collected four titles in that time.
Pia have been back in Elite 1 for three years and and have been a model of consistency. A fifth and now two fourth placings. Limoux won the league in 2017-18 season and is usually near the top of the league.
The play offs had third to sixth playing. Pia narrowly lost to Limoux while Villeneuve won 34-12 against St Estève-Catalan. The two lower finishing sides prevailing over their perhaps more fancied opponents.
The two top league teams returned to take on the above mentioned winners. In both matches, they came out on top, Albi 26-8 over Limoux and Carcassone 11-6 against Villeneuve. The latter scoreline was closer than I expected.
No comments:
Post a Comment