French Top 8’s TV debut

The target in the league phase is a top four finish and on Saturday evening two teams with real play-off ambitions came together. Eighty minutes later one had almost guaranteed its place, while the other was left with a great deal to do.

Parisians Bobigny began the season with a flourish, aided by the attraction of a near international quality backline as well as players from the failed Gennevilliers team. However that good start up the middle of October was followed by three defeats in four games before this weekend. A new year called for a fresh start from their visit to Blagnac St Orens (BSORF).

Unfortunately a visit to BSORF is not something that any team now relishes - only champions Montpellier have come away with the points this season – and that would remain the case.

Initially things went well for Bobigny when hooker Audrey Lagarrigue was carded for collapsing a maul. However the visitors failed to gain anything from the player advantage, and once BSORF were back to full strength the points began to flow. Laura Escande opened the scoring on the quarter-hour, with Montserrat Amedee doubling the advantage a few minutes later. As the first half neared its end it was Boigny’s turn to be reduced to 14, BSORF taking full advantage with another try, Escande’s speed making the most of a loose ball from missed kick at goal.

BSORFs problems were having problems converting their kicking opportunities, but this did little to help Bobigny as Escande continued her first half form with three more second half tries giving BSORF a 32-0 win, opening up an 18 point gap between them and Bobigny – though the latter do have two games in hand.

Lille are all but certain to make the final four. Long-time league leaders up until December, their target is to finish top and gain an easier semi-final draw. The northern powerhouse main challenge this season seems to be a financial one. Being one of the most remote teams in the league means costs of around €3000 for each away game – a great deal for a rugby club playing in an association football heartland, resulting in their launching a crowd funding experiment in the week leading up to their game. However, travel costs can work both ways and it was their visitors on Sunday morning who suffered. Bottom team La Valette, from just outside Toulon, arrived with a severely weakened team and were taken apart by their hosts. Twelve tries (four for Shannon Izar to add to her hat-trick in the previous game) gave them a 72-0 win, and one of most one-sided victories in recent years.

As Lille finished, another team with play-off ambitions – Caen – were kicking off against Rennes, and they had a perfect start with a converted try after two minutes by Marion Bouquet. However it was the visitors who responded best to this early score, and soon they were on the scoreboard with a try from Jade Le Pesq, though in this case it was not converted. As the tight first half neared its close Marion Bouquet – playing her final home game of her season – added a second try, and Caen went into the break with a narrow 12-8 lead.

The second half saw no additional scores until the final 15 minutes. First Caen pulled ahead with their second try, but within minutes Marianne Dubois had put the home team ahead. The game could still have gone either way, but in the final minute Emma Romain clinced the game for Caen with their fourth try, 22-13 being the final score.

And finally to Perpignan, where the cameras of Eurosport France broke new ground, offering viewers a double-header with a men’s Top 14 game being followed by the Top 8 fixture between Perpignan and Montpellier – arguably the leagues greatest rivals.

In the end it was the home team that rose to the occasion, while the champions appeared to suffer from stage fright. Christelle Le Duff in particular was on astonishing form with the boot as the home team raced away with an early try, shortly followed by penalty and a well-taken drop from Le Duff as the home team raced into a 14-0 halftime lead

A typical Montpellier drive from their pack finally put them on the board on 44 minutes, but within three minutes a superb try restored the home team’s advantage. A wonderful run from full-back Caroline Boujard resulted gave Perpignan a perfect base, the ball coming wide from the resulting ruck to Julie Billes, who passed inside to Elodie Guiglion before taking the ball in return to touch down.

Another Montpellier maul gave the visitors their second try on 63 minutes, but again it did not take Perpignan long to regain the initiative with a pinpoint cross kick from Le Duff being brilliantly taken by Guiglion, letting in Billes for her second try.

The game was rounded off with another great run from Boujard, splitting the Montpellier line for Perpignan’s fourth try. Final score, 33-10.

CLUB

P

W

D

L

PD

PTS

1

MONTPELLIER R C

11

9

0

2

107

42

2

LILLE METROPOL RC VILLENEUVOIS

10

8

0

2

165

38

3

BLAGNAC SAINT ORENS RUGBY FEMININ

11

8

0

3

97

36

4

U S A P XV FEMININ ROUSSILLON

9

6

0

3

110

29

5

L OVALIE CAENNAISE

11

4

0

7

-58

20

6

A C BOBIGNY 93 RUGBY

9

4

0

5

-60

18

7

STADE RENNAIS RUGBY

11

2

0

9

-75

13

8

RUGBY CLUB VALETTOIS REVESTOIS

10

0

0

10

-286

1