France Men's Elite 1: 2025-26

The eleven teams that make up the Elite 1 first division are listed below. The top six spots are sought after, as this determines who makes the finals/

The League: Carcassonne took the league title from Limoux and Pia. Avigon put behind itself a poor previous season to make the finals this year. St Estève-Catalan and Toulouse Olympique have teams playing in the European Super League and act as feeder clubs for them. 

The Finals: Albi and Avignon could hardly be separated in the league and again in the quarter final. It was more decisive in the other match with Limoux too strong for St Estève-Catalan.

Carcassonne and Pia joined the semi finals and their being the top sides in the league showed. Albi put up a brave fight against a much more fancied opponent, going down 12-35. I thought Limoux may have 

kept the score closer.

The two previous finals featured Carcassonne and Albi, Carcassonne won two years ago and Albi last year. Carcassonne was back to make up for the 2025 final loss with a different opponent. It was 12-12 at the break and 30-30 at full time. XIII Pia prevailed in a close and entertaining match. 

The video features the match. You will need to speed past the introduction to see the game and the commentary is in French. Well worth a look. 

France Women Elite 1: 2026

After extensive searching for historical information of the women's game in France, it became obvious that it has virtually zero recognition or interest. Had I been following year by year, I presume I'd have more information but posted, it doesn't remain long on the Internet. 

Cup Final: Lescure Arthes led 14-4 at half time and 20-4 with a quarter of the game remaining. Then St Estève Catalan made a stunning comeback but just fell short 20-18. 

League: To the right is the 2026 season. Only five sides competed, although the Elite 2 has seven teams. Why not six each? Regardless, each team plays the others twice.

The top two are evenly matched but the rest are some way below, the points difference indicating the gap. Limoux is straddles the two each side of it. 

Finals: In the semi finals, Lescure Arthes cruised into the final 60-0, The other game was a draw, with Limoux advancing due to outscoring St Estève Catalan 4-3 in tries. A novel way of deciding.

The Final: The semi final scores probably determined who was likely to win if not the league table. Lescure Arthes won 46-6 after leading 10-6 at the break. Full coverage of the game is below.  You may want to go past some extraneous content.

France Elite 2: 2025-26

The regular season of the second division in France has concluded. The nine competing sides go into the six team knock out competition. Green shows the top six. 

The League: The top sides changed places at the top, Villegailhenc Aragon (VARL) this time the winners. Two sides that missed out on the finals last year, made it through in 2025-26. Of course, that means two that did last year failed this time around. 

Photo: VARL Facebook (some of their fans celebrating).

The Finals: The top two teams had a bye and then took on the winners of the first knock out round, Pamiers and Realmont. They progressed comfortably, VARL by 56-6 and Palau 40-12.

This was VARL's third consecutive grand final, having lost both. Palua was in its second consecutive final, defeating YARL last year by 20-17. It was third time lucky for VARL, winning 30-18 after leading 12-6 at the break.   

France Lord Derby Cup : 2025-26

The competition was first played during the 1934-35 season. The 85th edition has been completed and the results are below. The orange colour represents Elite 2 teams and green Elite 1.

Villegailhenc-Aragon XIII did some giant killing, making it to the semi final. Last year's losing finalist Albi was the reason for the end of Elite 2 hopes and it was joined by favourite Carcassonne.

The final was a decisive victory for the favourite 44-6 and Albi had to settle for second place again. The first half was close (16-6), but the score ballooned out in the second. 

Recent winners are as follows:

2023: AS Carcassonne

2024: AS Carcassonne

2025: St Estève-Catalan

The video is the Luc Nitard U19 final and Lord Derby final. 

International Test Match Comparison : France RU vs France RL

Rugby league only arrived in France in 1934 but within a few years, it was considered a top nation internationally. It was shamefully banned by the pro-Nazi Vichy government with all assets confiscated. No recompense was paid but RL in France was again prospering in the 1950's anyway. 

Rugby Union arrived in France around the 1870's. It was supposed to be amateur but in due course, the French RU flouted that which led to there being standoffs between them and other nations, international competition suffering. In the 1950's tensions gradually eased and more matches for the Tricolores eventuated.

In the 1960's both codes were playing a similar number of internationals but the French RL was now suffering through internal strife. That meant that the XIII code was losing ground to RU. As RU pursued more internationals, mainly through a consistent Five Nations Championship, RL largely neglected the international scene apart from World Cups.

Six years into the 2020's the contrast in the number of internationals played has become stark. Northern Hemisphere RL needs to get its international act together. France struggles to compete against England and other NH nations are some way below France. Public interest is low for one sided test matches. That means there is no business case for international matches for a sport already cash strapped.  

Union is blue, League is red. Remember, the 2020's cover six years only.

Win percentages are somewhat closer than the number of matches played. The RU side of things is fairly consistent apart from a good start to the 2020's. 

As for Rugby XIII, the decline of the game as a whole in France (from the 1960's) is mirrored in the decline in success. The arrival of the Catalan Dragons as a club in 2000 and its entry into the Super League in 2006 seem to have helped the success rate. Also, top RL nations not playing France is also helping their win rate. More now needs to be done to lift the game in France further.

Others in the series are as follows. Simply click on the country name to go there: Australia, England, New Zealand.

France Elite 2 : 2024/25

For this season in the second division, US Entraigues XIII had been relegated and two sides were promoted, Pamiers and Realmont. There were still nine sides because while one club was promoted to Elite 1, none were relegated. 

Palau were fifth in 2023-24 but won the division this season. Villegailhenc Aragon were second again and Ille-sur-Têt retained their third spot. Both of the new sides acquitted themselves well enough, with Pamier even making the play offs. 

The first round of the finals featured the sides finishing third to sixth. Both of the teams that finished higher in the league won their matches. Carpentras 30-22 and Ille-sur-Têt 25-8. Sterner tests were to face them in the next round.

So it proved with both winners of the quarter finals ending their season in the semi finals. The winners went into the grand final and as both were the best two in the league well deserved. Villegailhenc was a losing grand finalist last year, but could they go one better?

It was not to be as Palau - quarter final loser from the previous season - went two better this year in winning narrowly 20-17. Tough for Villegailhenc to lose again and by such a close margin but congratulations to Palau who backed up their league title with the grand final trophy. I assume Palau will be now promoted to the Elite 1. 

France Elite 1 : 2024/25

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. 

The grand final saw Abli add to its league title with a 26-16 victory. They clearly were the best team over the season. They went so close to winning the treble but two out of three ain't bad. 

France Cup (Lord Derby) : 2024-25

The 17th Earl of Derby donated a cup to the winners of the inaugural winners of the Rugby League cup for the 1934-35 season. That was the first year of French RL also. The Earl's surname was Stanley and his father donated a cup to another sport.

Admission to the competition was for the top two divisions only of twenty teams. Eight played a preliminary knock out round, the four winners from which joined the other twelve. The teams from each division are colour coded as seen to the right..

Round of 16: The match ups and finals scores are as below. Two Elite 2 sides progressed, Carpentras overwhelming another Elite 2 side Tonneins while Villegailhenc upset Elite 1 team Villefranche.

Round of 8: The Elite 2 teams both bowed out at this stage although Villegailhenc put up stout resistance against -admittedly lowly Elite 1 side Toulouse. At the time of these games being played, the top three in the Elite 1 league made the semi final along with bottom placed Toulouse. 

Semi Final: Carcassonne has won the cup the last three times and 16 times since 1950. I was up against a side that last won it back in 1974 and only once even going back to 1950. Carcassonne led 20-12 at the half way mark and on track for another final. 

A ten minute sin bin for an AS player at the resumption opened led to two quick tries for Albi had them in front to establish a lead they didn't relinquish. It was however 30-30 at full time but Albi snatched an intercept try in golden point extra time for the victory. 

The second match was played in wet conditions with the Catalan side narrowly ahead 6-0 at the break. They went on to win 16-0 without looking like losing. 

Final: 5th April.

The youthful Catalan side raced to an early 16-0 before Albi came back to only trail 10-16 at the half time break. Then early in the second half, Albi took the lead 18-16 but were unable to take advantage of that.

Saint-Estève XIII Catalan took the Lord Derby trophy for the first time since 2018 but Albi's last success was in 1974 and its third losing final since 2008. Video highlights can be seen below. The picture can be expanded by clicking on the [ ] box or the YouTube logo.

Toulouse Olympique

The Toulouse Olympique RL Club have been trying to enter Super League (division one). They entered League One (division three) in 2016 and gained immediate promotion to the Championship (division two). After four years, they reached SL but only won five of their 27 matches played and were immediately relegated. 

They have since remained in the Championship and 2025 will be their third attempt to win promotion. Now there is a difference. Off field performance is now a major factor in succeeding so the club is pinning its hopes on an IMG grading score to achieve what it hasn't been able to do and that is get into SL and stay there by on field success.

What has been the problem? Spending money on travel, both for themselves and visiting teams is unreasonable and may be at the crux of the matter. Money needed to improve the squad is being taken by travel costs. The playing group therefore simply isn't of Super League quality. 

The Catalan Dragons club is now going to pay travel costs both ways as Toulouse Olympique is already doing. They are a finacially well off club that will be able to carry that burden but TO isn't at the same level monetarily. 

In 2024, they averaged 2,700 spectators in a city with a metropolitan population of just over a million. The team (Wakefield) that got promoted at their expense in 2024 had over double the attendance figure. Even if they get back into SL via IMG grading, they won't be attracting many fans if they are losing regularly. The squad has to be better but it seems only if IMG points keep them in SL while they build that up.

Sport is expensive and running a sports club is usually a loss making exercise. Some balance the books but few do. Quality players do not come cheap and success on the field is craved by the fans. It's a balancing act to get the best team assembled you can within an acceptable cost. I wish TO the best in their quest for success in SL. 

Picture source: loverugbyleague.com

Catalan Dragons League Placings : 2000-24

The Catalan Dragons are a club based in the city of Perpignan located in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the south of France. The club was formed in the year 2000 with a merging of XIII Catalan and AS Saint-Estève (which is just outside Perpignan). 

On gaining entry into Super League in 2006 they were given a three-year exemption from relegation. That proved a life-saving and sensible initiative as the club came last in its first year. It picked up after that but was spared relegation again in 2010 when from the year previous there was an increase to fourteen teams, licencing, and a temporary cessation of relegation.

The first coach was Michael Potter who did rather well with the new team. He was named Super League coach of the year in 2008. He moved on and was succeeded by Kevin Walters who despite the team just squeezing into the top eight, got to within one game of the grand final. 2010 wasn't so good and he returned home to Australia. 

Another Australian arrived as coach in Trent Robinson. As a fluent French speaker, he worked to create a more local flavour into the club, one with several overseas players. He also had two French assistants in Laurent Frayssinous and Jérôme Guisset which would have helped that process. Robinson was named the Super League coach of the year in 2011 but he then went back to Australia. 

Laurent Frayssinous took over as head honcho from 2013, with modest results culminating in a poor season in 2017 costing him his position. In came Yorkshireman Steve McNamara who had spent some time in Australia as an assistant coach. I had misgivings about the appointment but he fashioned a team that steadily improved each season. They won the league in 2021 and nearly replicated that two years later. 2024 was a downer and he needs a better 2025 to restore the fan's faith. 

France Club Ranking : 2021-24

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.

Photo: Carcassonne XIII.

France Elite 1 : 2023/24

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.

France Elite 2 : 2023-24

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

France Cup (Lord Derby) : 2023-24

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.

French Club RL History Scored

Putting points against a club's success can be done in many ways. I've got two examples below, one covering all elite success for the past three years and the other just top placings from 1960-61 until this 2022-23 season. 

2020-21 to 2022-23: Over the last three years, there have been three league (L) and finals (F) series and just one cup competition (C). I'm not sure why the cup was not played for those two seasons unless it was a hangover from Covid. I put points for each competition. Only the top sides can score points for the first tow but any club can succeed in the cup.

Lézignan was the most successful side in 2021 but is only third over the three years with 79 points. Carcassonne was the best of 2022 and 2023 and naturally the top ranked club for the period. Between them is Limoux in second place. Carcassonne scored the most points in all three categories as seen in the Summary section.

1960-61 to 2022-23: Looking over 63 years with stricter eligibility paints a different picture again. The top four league teams are allocated points as follows 6,4,2,1. Finals 6,4,2,2. Cup 6,3. With a few finals canceled and other disruptions, the scores are as below.

I'm only showing from the 2010-11 season due to space limitations. Catalan and St Estève combined from the 2000-01 season. They also have a side playing in European Super League so the new entity is a reserves side. Toulouse did likewise in 2016.

Technically either Catalan or St Estève would be the most successful side but their combining stopped that occurring. That leaves AS Carcassonne the top placed club, ahead of the Villeneuve Leopards. The latter hasn't done well of late. Lézignan has just passed the now defunct stand alone Catalan club. The successful Le Pontet XII club left abruptly in 1990. 

France Domestic Finals Series : 2023

Picture : Limoux Facebook

The ten team Elite One competition became six with the best sides for the season progressing. It started with what is called barrages or elimination games. The two top sides take a break while the third to sixth play. The two winners of the 3rd-6th matches then play the two rested sides to decide which two will contest the final.

Barrages: Third placed FC Lézignan overcame RC St Gaudens 46-12 and RC Albi the same against Pia XIII 40-6. No surprise there.

Demi Finals: AS Carcassonne returned as the top ranked side and got past RC Albi 26-16 in a fairly close encounter. The second highest ranked Limoux Grizzlies had an easier passage through to the finals, defeating FC Lézignan 36-10.

Finale: Carcassonne defeated Limoux in last year's final and here they were again. Limoux hadn't won a final since 2017 so didn't want a repeat of last year. The Limouxins got the better of the early scoring and leading 14-0. By half time it was 14-6. The second half followed a similar pattern with Limoux pulling away 32-6 before some sort of comeback had the final score at 34-24. 8,221 fans came along to enjoy the action. 

The summary:

2025 RL World Cup Update

For those not following the game closely you may not realise that France has pulled out of hosting the 2025 event. It could not be held due to doubts about its financial viability. It's a sad affair considering that France has previously hosted the competition in 1954 (the inaugural event), 1972 and 2000 (partial hosting). It was an idea from the French RL federation that started off the concept of World Cups in the first place and the trophy is named after the president of French RL at the time Paul Barrière.

So what are the options now? Cancel it altogether, postpone it a year or allocate it to another location. The first two will depend on the third option so I'll cut straight to that. Already a few expressions of interest have been made. New Zealand is a major one and a reasonably good case for that. 

A left field offer is from Qatar, a nation that pushes to host international tournaments. FIFA held its last WC there and it was a success without much of a controversy. They don't play the game of RL there but that could be sorted no doubt. The financial success of a WC in Qatar would presumably be a given, with a guarantee from the host. 

If that doesn't come off and NZ decides it isn't quite ready and neither is anyone else, one of the other two options would come into play. They are postponement or cancellation. The latter need not happen but who knows in RL? 

PS. It became the 2026 event, co-hosted by Australia, NZ and PNG.

France Cup (Lord Derby) : 2022-23

Rugby league started in France in 1934 and Lord Derby donated the cup for the knock out competition. It is still named as such today, although I assume officially named the Coupe de France de Rugby à XIII. It wasn't played for the past three years due to Covid.

The 2022-23 edition was held, with AS Carcassonne being the most successful club with fifteen titles. Who lifted the trophy this year. We take up the competition in the quarter finals.

AS Carcassonne got past a tough opponent in FC Lézignan 28-14, S O Avignon prevailed over XIII Pia 18-8, RC Albi were too good for Villegailhenc 42-20 and Limoux Gizzlies cruised to victory over the St Gaudens XIII 42-6.

The semi finals had AS Carcassonne vs S O Avignon and the holders progressed with a 46-14 triumph. RC Albi secured the other final spot with a high scoring 34-28 defeat of the Limoux Gizzlies. 

The final had AS Carcassonne chasing its sixteenth title and RC Albi it's second. The only previous final it contested was back in 1974 so history was against them. In the match, it was close at half time with the holders ahead just 10-8. Carcassonne ran away with the game in the second half. 36-12 was the final score. The fans above look happy.

If you want to watch the match on YouTube click here. It's put out by the Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII 

France Elite 2 Finals Series : 2022

Of the ten teams in the Elite 2, the top six progressed to the playoffs. A summary of the regular Elite 2 season can be read by clicking here. The quarter finals were played between the teams finishing third to sixth in the league, the two top sides having a bye. 

QF: Both matches went the way of the higher placed sides, the 3rd ranked Villegaihenc defeating 6th side Lescure Arthes 49-12. The 4th placed finisher Ille-sur-Têt accounted for US Entraigues 34-16.

SF: In came the top two league teams, taking on the winners of the above matches. Both games were much closer, the second ranked Baho defeating Villegaihenc 44-30 and league winner Pia just getting through 36-33 over Ille-sur-Têt.

Grand Final: The two best in the league met and a tight struggle ensued. Baho led 12-6 at half time but it finished 14-14 so extra time was required to break the deadlock. Baho missed a drop goal attempt but when Pia got their first chance, they succeeded. 

The league winner won the grand final too, but the last two games they played were close affairs. Congratulations to Pia and commiserations to a game Baho side. 

France Elite 1 Finals Series : 2022

Of the nine teams in the Elite 1, the top six progressed to the playoffs. The summary of the regular season can be read by clicking here. The top two sides were not involved in the first round. That involved 3rd (Lézignan) playing 6th (Avignon) and 4th  (Albi) playing 5th (St Estève XIII -Catalan). Lézignan comfortably won its fixture 46-12 while the lower ranked St Estève-Catalan overcame its opponent in a closely fought encounter 28-24.

The semi final had the two winners from the quarter final round take on the rested top two from the league. Carcassonne defeated Lézignan 31-18 and Limoux were impressive victors in their match against St Estève-Catalan 36-4.

The final was held in warm conditions with 8,000 in attendance, a figure exceeding my expectation. The Carcassonne take a yellow card for dangerous tackle. In numerical superiority, The Limoux side took an early lead 8-0 after 22 minutes. Carcassonne react and went to the half time break up 12-8. 

The second stanza has Carcassonne up 16-8 but Limoux reacts and reduced the deficit to 16-10. It then is 20-10 and while Limoux brings it back to 20-16 with a minute remaining, it was too little, too late. Carcassonne became the grand final winner 10 years after its last success in 2012.

The highlights of the final can be seen below. At YouTube, there is also a full match video.

In the women's final RC Lescure Arthes defeated the Catalanes 16-4. The highlights are below.