France Elite Teams By Season : 2012-13

The season was to have ten teams in the Elite Division One but just as it started Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole Rugby XIII pulled out for financial reasons. The remaining nine duly played out the season.

The Elite One: The best side was the Salanque Méditerranée Pia XIII by some margin, finishing on 47 points. Neighbours St Estève - XIII Catalan came in second with 41 points. FC Lézignan (37) led a clutch of sides which were SO Avignon (36), Toulouse Olympique (35) as was AS Carcassonne.

Finals: In one semi final SM Pia (aka The Donkeys) pipped Toulouse 25-24 and St Estève also just got through 18-16 over FC Lézignan. The final had Pia rounding off a fine season with a 33-26 victory over St Estève. 6,700 were at Perpignan for the game.

Lord Derby Cup: In the first semi final SO Avignon won through against Toulouse 32-26 and in the other knock out match Limoux got past AC Carcassonne  36-28. As liberal the scoring was for the semis, the final went one better when Avignon took the coupe 38-37 from Limoux. 5,000 watced the encounter at Carcassonne.

Three teams got 40 points, Pia, St Estève and Avignon. Pia was the best team by my reckoning but for the LD Cup when it lost its first round match to what was a 'walk over' due to a punishment handed down to the club. Because of that, the best team. St Estève didn't win anything but was in everything, while Avignon succeeded in the cup.

After the season finished Salanque Méditerranée Pia XIII relinquished their elite division status due to financial constraints. The best team of the year kicked out of the cup and then walks away from the top division for the sport? Une situation regetable.

	Rk	Team	E 1	Fls	LD	Tot
	1	Pia	20	20		40
	1	St Estève Cat	18	16	6	40
	1	Avignon	14	6	20	40
	4	Toulouse	12	12	12	36
	5	Carcassonne	11	6	12	29
	6	Lézignan	16	12		28
	7	Limoux	9		16	25
	8	Lescure-Arth	8		6	14
	9	Villeneuve	10			10
	10	Villefranche			6	6
	10	Réalmont			6	6
		Total	118	72	84	274

For the 2011/12 season, please click here.
For the 2013/14 season, please click here.

UK Elite Teams By Season : 2012

For SL XVII it was the first year of a second round of clubs having licences, with promotion / relegation being scrapped. Fourteen teams battled it out to make the playoffs and ultimately the grand final. It was alos the 111th Challenge Cup competition.

League: Wigan took this out narrowly from Warrington, with St Helens and the Catalan side making up 3rd and 4th. Castelford and Widnes propped up the table.

Challenge Cup: In one semi final Warrington overwhelmed Hudderesfield 33-6 and Leeds had to fight harder to get past Wigan in a high scoring match 39-28. Warrington took the cup with a 35-18 victory, Leeds the defeated side after a tight first half.

Finals: For the semi finals Leeds defeated Wigan 13-12 in a cliff hanger, while Warrington looked good winning 36-18 over Saints. However Leeds evened the score when they proved too good in the grand final, overcoming Warrington 26-18.

So Cheshire club Warrington was the best performing side for the 2012 season. Had Yorkshire's Leeds won the Challenge Cup, they would have taken top honours, so it was quite a close run thing. The two Lancashire teams from Wigan and St Helens came next France's representative Les Catalans Dragons.

	Rk	Team	Lge	Fnl	CC	Tot
	1	Warrington	18	16	20	54
	2	Leeds	12	20	16	48
	3	Wigan	20	12	12	44
	4	St Helens	16	12	6	34
	5	Catalans	14	6	6	26
	6	Huddersfield	10	3	12	25
	7	Hull FC	11	6		17
	8	Wakefield	9	3		12
	9	London	5		6	11
	10	Bradford	8			8
	11	Hull KR	7			7
	12	Salford	6			6
	12	Leigh			6	6
	14	Castleford	4			4
	15	Widnes	3			3
		Total	143	78	84	305

For the 2011 season, please click here.
For the 2013 season, please click here.

Rugby League World Cup : 2013

The fourteenth edition of the RL world cup was held in Europe. Fourteen teams contested it, the USA and Italy there for the first time. When all components were added up - attendances and revenue - it was the most successful ever. Some of the match ups were crackers too. I watched every game in full, a first for me. Without pay TV now, that won't be happening again anytime soon.

Group 1: Australia, England, Fiji and Ireland with three to qualify. Australia defeated England but not without a real fight. Fiji accounted for Ireland, consigning the latter to certain elimination. So it transpired with Fiji coming third to go through.

Group 2: New Zealand, Samoa, Papaua New Guinea and France. Favourites NZ overcame Samoa in an entertaining match. France fought to defeat PNG in poor conditions by a single point. NZ then eased past the French side and Samoa was far too good for PNG. NZ were too good for PNG and Samoa were thuggish when beating France. Disgraceful Samoan effort.

Group 3: Three teams here and one match shared with Group 4 for each side to give them three matches too. Scotland narrowly upset Tonga in a fantastic game. Scotland then drew with Italy in another fine match before Tonga overcame Italy.

Group 4: The USA defeated the Cook Islands, then Wales too. Wales then lost in an upset result with the Cook Is.

Cross Group Games: Italy defeated a poor Wales side, Tonga just got past the Cook Is and Scotland proved to be the find of the tournament with a fine performance against the USA.

Quarter Finals: NZ ended the gallant Scots run 40-4, Australia brought the USA down to earth with a clinical 62-0 demolishing, England were efficient defeating France 34-6 and Fiji were too good for Samoa 22-4.

Semi Finals: The hosts England were on course to go through but poor finishing and a last gasp NZ try put them out. In the other game, Australia were far too good for Fiji, winning 64-0. After plenty of exciting group game, some of the finals matches had been one sided.

Grand Final: New Zealand's hard semi final prepared them well for the big one. Australia's easy passage could mean that they were less mentally prepared. That's how I saw it but from the kick off, it was clearly not the case. The Kiwis had a poor attitude and the Kangaroos were focused. 34-2 the score, the biggest winning margin in a final ever. England should have been there and would have put up a better showing.

The summary of the series can be seen by clicking here.
The first in the series (1954) can be seen by clicking here.

2013 HOSTS: ENGLAND - WALES / WINNER: AUSTRALIA
Group 1				Group 2				Group 1
AUS	28	FIJ	32	FRA	9	NZL	42	AUS	6	+90
ENG	20	IRE	14	PNG	8	SAM	24	ENG	4	+56
								FIJ	2	-36	QF		SF
ENG	42	AUS	34	NZL	48	SAM	38	IRE	0	-110	NZL	40	NZL	20
IRE	0	FIJ	2	FRA	0	PNG	4	Group 2			SCO	4	NZL	18
								NZL	6	+112
ENG	34	AUS	50	NZL	56	SAM	22	SAM	4	+32	AUS	62	AUS	64
FIJ	12	IRE	0	PNG	10	FRA	6	FRA	2	-63	USA	0	FIJ	0
Gr 3		Gr 4		Gr 3 / 4				PNG	0	-81
SCO	26	USA	32	ITAL	32			Group 3			ENG	34
TON	24	CIS	20	WAL	16			SCO	5	+16	FRA	6
								TON	4	+20			FINAL
SCO	20	USA	24	TON	22			ITA	3	0	FIJ	22	AUS	34
ITA	20	WAL	16	CIS	16			Group 4			SAM	4	NZL	2
								USA	4	+6
TON	16	CIS	28	SCO	22			CIS	2	-14
ITA	0	WAL	24	USA	8			WAL	0	-28