Top 8: Lille take the title north

Lille prepare for the scrum that lead to the penalty try, and victory

The French Top 8 reached an appropriate climax in Massey, in the outskirts of Paris on Saturday. Lille lead the table for most of the regular season before being pipped by Montpellier in the final week, after a surprise home loss to Blagnac St Orens (BSORF).

Montpellier cruised to the final against Toulouse, but Lille had to fight back after a first leg defeat to BSORF, and perhaps surviving that extra pressure was significant in the final.

The key moments came early in the first half when Montpellier camped on Lille’s line in a manner that has been familiar to anyone watching either Montpellier or France in recent years. They put together rolling mauls – but desperate Lille defence held them out. Then it was the scrum with Safi N’Diaye poised to do her usual pick-up and touchdown from No 8 – but again Lille frustrated, and dug in and held out. It was a monumental piece of defence, and the champions left the line pointless.

The game after that flowed back and forth for the rest of the half, with just a Shannon Izar penalty separating the teams. Then, from the final play before the break, came a moment of genius with the ball coming back to Izar from a ruck well to the left of the posts and a good 30m out. With almost no room Izar attempted and outrageous drop goal – and hit it perfectly. 6-0 to Lille at half time.

Montpellier began the second half much as the first, but this time used their back line rather than their forwards – and got the breakthrough, and overlap tothe right allowing Elodie Poublan in for the try which, after a great conversion, put them 7-6 ahead.

Lille now threw everything at Montpellier, with the champions still looking dangerous on the break. Into the final quarter and a fortunate bounce found the hands of Romane Menager who raced down the wing for a Lille try that put them back in the lead. Izar’s kicking skills deserted her in the second half, however, and missed conversions and penalties left the score at just 11-7 to Lille into the final minutes.

But Lille had the ball, and kept it as the clock ran down. It was their turn to camp on Montpellier’s line and as the game entered the last minute desperate play by the champions to try to turn the ball over eventually resulted in a penalty try for Lille. The players celebrated as Izar slotted the kick, the whistle went, and Lille were champions by 18-7.

Or maybe not the first national title for Lille...?