French Top 8: Now for the playoffs
It’ll be Montpellier vs Toulouse and Lille v Blagnac St Orens in the playoff semi-finals for the French championship, to be played home-and-away over the next couple of weekends.
Published by John Birch, April 20th, 2016
3 minute read
After a battle to the line it was Montpellier who finally topped the regular season league… while sitting at home. A 5-point walkover from their game against Perpignan was enough after the surprise home defeat for Lille, against their semi-final opponents.
Lille had been unbeaten at home all season – and most of last season as well but the Blagnacaises adapted their game to make the most of their strengths and Lille’s weaknesses, forcing their forwards to give away penalties.
Nevertheless it was still a very close game. A Perceval try for BSORF after 17 minute was cancelled out by a score from Marine Menager on the half-hour and, with an exchange of penalties, it was only Abadie’s conversion that gav ethe visitors a 10-8 lead at the break. A second BSORF try extended their lead, but as the clock ticked down a penalty try allowed Lille to tie the score with five minutes left.
It was now Lille’s turn to defend, with the turning point coming with just two minutes to go when Tissiez was sent to the bin. That player advantage was just enough to see BSORF drive over with seconds to go, giving them a 15-22 win.
Stade Toulousain met Stade Rennais in a celebratory game in front of 2,000 spectators (despite a huge storm before the game) at Stade Ernest Wallon. And, despite being something of a dead rubber, the game provided a good show the crowd with the Rennaises coming close to spoiling the party
Rennes dominated opening stages of the match and were rewarded with a penalty. However the Toulousaines soon responded and, after a beautiful pass out of the tackle by Lecat, Beauparlant was in to score the opening try. Lenaig Corson added a second try, and at half-time it was still all to play for at 13-6.This became 13-9 shortly after the restart, before Toulouse maul let in Rière to score the home team’s third try. Rennes were not finished , however, and soon wiped out that advantage, resulting a tense final quarter where – buoyed up the crowd – Toulose hung on to take the game 20-14.
The final game of the weekend saw Caen put in possibly their best performance of the year, going down to Bobigny by just 23-24.
CLUB
P
W
D
L
PD
BP
PTS
1
MONTPELLIER R C
14
10
1
3
281
12
54
2
LILLE METROPOLE RC VILLENEUVOIS
14
10
1
3
189
9
51
3
BLAGNAC SAINT ORENS RUGBY FEMININ
14
11
0
3
107
4
48
4
STADE TOULOUSAIN RUGBY FEMININ
14
9
1
4
96
5
43
5
A C BOBIGNY 93 RUGBY
14
7
1
6
40
7
37
6
STADE RENNAIS RUGBY
14
5
0
9
-24
8
28
7
L OVALIE CAENNAISE
14
2
0
12
-339
4
12
8
U S A P XV FEMININ ROUSSILLON
14
0
0
14
-350
0
-28