French Top 8 to enter television age
Arguably the main excitement in the final weekend of Top 8 action was off the field as it was announced that two games in January will be televised for the first time, but there was still plenty of interest on the field as the the top teams aimed to go into the Christmas break with strong wins.
Published by John Birch, December 23rd, 2014
4 minute read
Lille's hat-trick hero, Shannon Izar
Unusually the weekend was split, with two games scheduled for Saturday and two for Sunday. On the former fourth-placed Perpignan in particular were faced with a very early start to reach Paris for a 2pm kick-off against Bobigny, lying fifth. Choosing to use the TGV to speed their way to a crucial game, the Catalonians were all but on their way to the station when the call came through that the ground authorities that the pitch was under water, the result of a Parisian monsoon. It was a late call that not only now leaves both teams with the challenge of having to squeeze two extra games into January and February, but more to Perpignan’s dismay it also left them with €3,500 Euros worth of useless (and non-refundable) rail tickets - a financial hit that is not the best of Christmas presents. The top level of women’s rugby in France is an expensive business.
All other games went ahead as planned. Saturday evening saw Blagnac St Orens come away from a similarly lengthy journey to Britanny with a 19-8 win over Rennes. The home team, lying seventh in the table, lead for much of the game, but two BSORF tries – plus a Rennes yellow card - in the final 20 minutes not only lost them the game but also any losing bonus. BSORF go third, but have played one more game than Lille above them.
For Lille themselves it was back to basics. Last week coach Damien Couvreur – looking ahead to the playoffs, which have seen Lille fall at the last hurdle for the past three years - had experimented with some new formations, but on Sunday after two defeats in two games had knocked them off the top of the league it was back to tried-and-tested methods. The result was a 31-12 win over Caen, with Shannon Izar running in a hat-trick of tries, a good all-round performance though Caen conceding two yellow cards did not help their cause. However a late score from Caen was sufficient for Lille to lose their attacking bonus, which could still be important in the New Year.
Finally Montpellier completed their second win in a month over bottom-placed La Valette, though the team from the Côte d'Azur battled bravely to only go down by 31-21. For Montpellier, however, this completed a wonderful month of consecutive bonus point wins that has taken them from second in the table to nine points clear at the top – a good omen for the national team, perhaps as a similar burst of form from Gaelle Mignot’s team a year ago was quickly quickly converted into success in the Six Nations.
However, the big news came at the end of the weekend when it was revealed that the two games will be shown live on national television on the weekend of 24-25thJanuary – France’s women’s sports weekend. Cable and satellite broadcaster Canal+ will show Lille vs Perpignan while terrestrial channel France 4 – the host broadcaster for the World Cup – will show Montpellier vs Blagnac St Orens, which is being moved back a week especially for the cameras. In addition France 4 have also announced that they will broadcast the Top 8 final, live, in May.
No women’s club games have ever been broadcast nationally in France before.
CLUB
P
W
D
L
PD
BP
PTS
1
MONTPELLIER R C
10
9
0
1
130
6
42
2
LILLE METROPOL RC VILLENEUVOIS
9
7
0
2
93
5
33
3
BLAGNAC SAINT ORENS RUGBY FEMININ
10
7
0
3
65
3
31
4
U S A P XV FEMININ ROUSSILLON
8
5
0
3
87
5
25
5
A C BOBIGNY 93 RUGBY
8
4
0
4
-28
2
18
6
L OVALIE CAENNAISE
10
3
0
7
-67
4
16
7
STADE RENNAIS RUGBY
10
2
0
8
-66
5
13
8
RUGBY CLUB VALETTOIS REVESTOIS
9
0
0
9
-214
1
1