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| UTC fall short in Donkey derby |
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A second half onslaught saw Pia emerge victorious in the Catalan derby on Sunday as the top two continue to duke it out punch-for-punch. Limoux's pursuit of the Donkeys was aided by a thumping victory over St Gaudens who are now in real trouble and look in something approaching disarray. Elsewhere, Avignon scored an away triumph at Lyon, Carpentras beat Carcassonne and Lézignan, with some stars returning, looked something like their best in thumping Villeneuve.
But we'll start the round-up at Stade Daniel Ambert in Pia |
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The Catalan derby is the one that grabs the attention as the league season reaches the sixth round. Pia play host to UTC in the top game of the weekend while the Lyon v Avignon game looks an intriguing clash. Elsewhere, Lézignan welcome back a host of stars as they take on Villeneuve who are looking to bounce back after last week's disappointment. Carcassonne travel to take on Carpentras and Limoux welcome St Gaudens to the l'Aiguille.
We preview the fixtures here |
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| Sean Rudder's World Cup diary |
Closet Celt |
He's back with his musings on the World Cup.
The World cup has been really big news over here in Oz with several of the smaller sides doing really well. Unfortunately I was not given the opportunity to participate, as Scotland coach Steve McCormack lost my phone number. Whilst I respect the man and his coaching achievements, I think that kind of thing is really unprofessional.
Read more |
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Champions! |
With one chance left to salvage a little bit of face from the World Cup, France failed abysmally. Samoa were the other side to finish the group stages with faces covered in egg, but, thanks to a combination of some decent rugby and a lot of French ineptitude, they were the ones that emerged victorious, condemning France to a tenth placed finish. Out of ten.
We review the horror show here |
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Moody Bleu |
Mark Hall reflects on a dismal World Cup campaign
The phenomenal success of the Catalans Dragons this season gave me hope for the World Cup. I took my two week holiday down in St Cyprien close to Perpignan, and the surrounding area, to enable me to see the play off games at the Stade Gilbert Brutus. My wife thought I had fixed it to take the motorhome down and catch the games, but as I booked the trip in February, I didn't give the Dragons a cat in hell's chance of being in the play-offs. Mid-table and a good cup run would have been the icing on the cake for me after last year's Wembley appearance. |
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| Carcassonne take derby spoils in thriller |
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In the big Aude derby, a last minute Saia Makisi try sealed a thrilling victory for Carcassonne, in the process denting Limoux's chances of forging ahead in the league. That's the last 100% record gone and the two sides that had previously failed to get off the mark also lost their rather less than wanted records. Lézignan beat Avignon and St Gaudens snuck past Lyon. Elsewhere, UTC and Pia both recorded impressive wins, but we start our round-up at the Albert Domec. |
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Emergency stand-off |
Changes are forced on Les Chanticleers for their final game of the World Cup, a grading game against Samoa who surprisingly finished bottom of pool three. Maxime Grésèque is injured after his thigh problem failed to respond to treatment, Christophe Moly will start at hooker in the absence of Julien Rinaldi and James Wynne and there's yet another change of position for the versatile Teddy Sadaoui. Samoa were widely tipped to make the semi-finals, so it's a shock to see what happened to them. They're without a talisman in the shape of Nigel Vagana and both sides will want to sign out of a disappointing tournament with something to crow about.
We preview the game here |
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Hopefully this round of fixtures in the LER will escape postponements. How the four sides that weren't in action last week get in could be interesting, especially St Gaudens whose season hasn't got off the ground yet and they face a visit from a resurgent Lyon. Elsewhere, Pia host Carpentras, UTC include six Dragons at home to Villeneuve and Lézignan attempt to score their first win at Avignon. The big game, though, is the big derby between league leaders Limoux and Carcassonne, so we'll begin our previews at the Stade Albert Domec. |
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Only three games were played in Élite 1 this weekend due to a brace of postponements. Carpentras had called off their match at home to UTC well in advance, but further torrential downpours forced Lézignan to cancel their appointment with St Gaudens. The big clash at the top of the table did go ahead with Limoux ousting favourites Pia. Elsewhere, Lyon scored a good win over Carcassonne and Villeneuve continued their good start to the season with a comprehensive win over Avignon.
But we must start our review at Stade l'Aiguille in Limoux |
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Ta-ra chuck |
France's World Cup challenge was blown away by a rampant Fiji side that outplayed Les Bleus in every facet of the game. Fiji played an excellent brand of rugby that should take them past Scotland and into that play-off. France can still make it through, but it would take an unlikely result in the final group game. Suffice to say that bags can be packed now.
This was a hammering and we review the debacle here |
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The top two clash in this week's tie of the round at Stade de l'Aiguille in Limoux. Pia bring their red hot form to town and the victor will forge ahead. Elsewhere, high-flying Villeneuve host Avignon, Carcassonne take the trip north to Lyon while one of St Gaudens and Lézignan will break their duck at the Moulin. Heavy rains in the Provence region have forced the local mairie to postpone UTC's trip to Carpentras.
But where else could we start our previews other than at Limoux? |
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engage Super League XIII |
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Team |
Pts |
+/- |
| 1 |
St. Helens |
43 |
483 |
| 2 |
Leeds |
42 |
450 |
| 3 |
Catalans |
34 |
69 |
| 4 |
Wigan |
29 |
-50 |
| 5 |
Bradford |
28 |
80 |
| 6 |
Warrington |
28 |
-23 |
| 7 |
Hull KR |
23 |
-149 |
| 8 |
Wakefield |
22 |
-186 |
| 9 |
Harlequins |
22 |
-194 |
| 10 |
Huddersfield |
21 |
-43 |
| 11 |
Hull FC |
17 |
-161 |
| 12 |
Castleford |
15 |
-276 |
 Full Table 
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