Lord Derby Cup 2024/25

[langpark]

Albi win it with an intercept try.

Ugly scenes at full-time. Seems an Albi player was overdoing it celebrating in front of the Carcassonne players and sparked a soccer-style meleé that went on for about 2 minutes until the teams finally got separated. 

Really good game, the lead changed hands a few times, am I glad I watched it. 

[preid]

Really good match. Albi led 12-0 then Carcassonne went 20-12 up at half time only for Albi to score 18 unanswered points ! Carcassonne scored two tries in last ten minutes but missed the second conversion not helped by the Albi tiger distracting the kicker each time. Tony Gigot missed three drop goals in the final four minutes before winning the game with an intercept in extra time. 34-30 final score. Final conversion never happened as free-for-all ensued after that try.

Other familiar faces included Morgan Escare and Mikael Goudemand. Good crowd and atmosphere with main stand pretty full but far more Albi support. Good coverage too and the Toulouse commentator always does a good job.

Edited March 22 by preid

[preid]

7 minutes ago, langpark said:

Albi win it with an intercept try.

Ugly scenes at full-time. Seems an Albi player was overdoing it celebrating in front of the Carcassonne players and sparked a soccer-style meleé that went on for about 2 minutes until the teams finally got separated. 

Really good game, the lead changed hands a few times, am I glad I watched it. 

It started with the final CC tackler injuring Gigot in the process and the Albi players took exception as their man lay injured. Tackler was sent off but I saw it as an accident rather than malicious.

The 2,000 Albi fans predicted elsewhere seemed accurate enough too.

Edited March 22 by preid

[langpark]

43 minutes ago, preid said:

It started with the final CC tackler injuring Gigot in the process and the Albi players took exception as their man lay injured. Tackler was sent off but I saw it as an accident rather than malicious.

The 2,000 Albi fans predicted elsewhere seemed accurate enough too.

If you are talking about the knee drop on the tryscorer, then that wasn't it.  It was a separate incident that happened well after that and about 20 metres away from there.

Yes it was hard to tell as the Albi fans were on the camera side.  But I just saw a pic online and I would agree that 2000 sounds correct.  On the opposite side it seemed about 500 Carcassonne fans and another 500 neutrals, which gradually grew larger in the second half.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9413329478787457&set=pcb.9413329922120746

Edited March 22 by langpark

[oiseau]

Cracking game and a good crowd, more fellow Albi fans who always follow their team but disappointed with the ASC fanbase. Maybe the club is hoping playing in the English league will put more buts on seats ?

Good see-saw game which could have gone either way but a great advert for the French Élite. The crowd total, including the TO V Hunslet massacre annonced as 5390 but I actually thought there were more speccies. Good atmosphère and the concept of a curtain raiser before the TO game was proved to be a success.

Gigot was the différence for me with some cool conversions under pressure. 
 

ASC were not happy bannies at the end, bad losers maybe but this sets up some mindboggling imminent home games at the Mazicou versus Limoux and intriguingly ASC which will be an absolute cracker, not to be missed.

[barnyia]

Sad to see more fans for the curtain raiser than the actual main event, 

There was some bad blood at the first game at domec, it all adds to the rivalry, it's a very interesting season in super 13, very tight and the level of play has gone up, plus lots of young debutantes in almost all the clubs, 

[oiseau]

Yes, some great compétition this season in Élite 1. Villefranche have done well stepping up.

The Albi win at the Domec was epic, maybe the needle  from that game carried over ? 

Next up for ASC is a home game vs Catalans which will be another tense affaire.

[langpark]

5 hours ago, oiseau said:

Gigot was the différence for me with some cool conversions under pressure. 

He definitely was.  However.... he also made some 'interesting' decisions at critical moments.  He went for the short goal-line dropout twice!  Once when they were 6 points in front and another when they were 10 points ahead.  Both failed.  One was caught by Carcassonne.  The other went out on the full.  I cannot remember exactly but at least one of those instances resulted in a Carcassonne try.  I know it might be the 'French way' but seems like such an unnecessary risk to be taking (and nearly cost them the game).

5390 is not bad.  Toulouse really need to start building their fanbase, especially if they plan on SL and playing long-term in the 19,000 seat Stade Ernest Wallon.

[Gomersall]

 

[langpark]

I watched the whole first half.  Considering Toulouse are coming last and St Esteve are 1st in Elite 1, it was an impressive performance from Toulouse.  They fought hard and stayed in the game, but rarely looked like a genuine threat in attack.  16-0 is a great result and one they should be proud of!

[Gomersall]

 

[preid]

10 hours ago, oiseau said:

Cracking game and a good crowd, more fellow Albi fans who always follow their team but disappointed with the ASC fanbase. Maybe the club is hoping playing in the English league will put more buts on seats ?

Good see-saw game which could have gone either way but a great advert for the French Élite. The crowd total, including the TO V Hunslet massacre annonced as 5390 but I actually thought there were more speccies. Good atmosphère and the concept of a curtain raiser before the TO game was proved to be a success.

Gigot was the différence for me with some cool conversions under pressure. 
 

ASC were not happy bannies at the end, bad losers maybe but this sets up some mindboggling imminent home games at the Mazicou versus Limoux and intriguingly ASC which will be an absolute cracker, not to be missed.

Are they still planning to join League 1 ?! Would't the cost of paying for 11 teams travel etc be too much ? The Albi support yesterday seemed to be about 4 times greater too so is the fanbase there ? Thanks.

[oiseau]

2 hours ago, preid said:

Are they still planning to join League 1 ?! Would't the cost of paying for 11 teams travel etc be too much ? The Albi support yesterday seemed to be about 4 times greater too so is the fanbase there ? Thanks.

Apparently the request has gone into the rfl to play in the third tier. They must have done their homework I suppose ?. Their fanbase isnt that great so maybe they are dep3nding on expanding their footprint. Maybe fans of ASC can enlighten us ?
 

Albi has a solid fanbase and the Mazicou is usually full. They are a well run club nowadays since the club had a kind of make over a few years back. The local council is with them all the way which means the local community feel more involved. That’s how I see it anyway.

 

[preid]

1 minute ago, oiseau said:

Apparently the request has gone into the rfl to play in the third tier. They must have done their homework I suppose ?. Their fanbase isnt that great so maybe they are dep3nding on expanding their footprint. Maybe fans of ASC can enlighten us ?
 

Albi has a solid fanbase and the Mazicou is usually full. They are a well run club nowadays since the club had a kind of make over a few years back. The local council is with them all the way which means the local community feel more involved. That’s how I see it anyway.

 

Interesting. League 1 goes to 12 teams next year from 11 via extra relegation from Championship (so 3 x 12 leagues) so not sure how that might happen unless one fails (hopefully not). Also Bedford seem still keen to join. We shall see  It will always be seen as a lovely destination though.

[Gomersall]

 

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

2 hours ago, Gomersall said:

 

Merci!

[langpark]

On 01/04/2025 at 15:07, Gomersall said:

Will we be able to watch this from outside France? Sometimes it doesn't let us. Looking forward to the match, I hope Albi win. 

Also am pleased to see Toulouse in the U19 GF. Hopefully that is a good sign that they have some good players coming through to strengthen their two senior teams in the next few years. 

[Whippet13]

9 hours ago, langpark said:

Will we be able to watch this from outside France? Sometimes it doesn't let us. Looking forward to the match, I hope Albi win. 

Also am pleased to see Toulouse in the U19 GF. Hopefully that is a good sign that they have some good players coming through to strengthen their two senior teams in the next few years. 

Not blocked, but does seem to freeze quite frequently, and doesnt allow casting to a TV so watching on the phone.

Current score is Albi 0 St-Esteve 16 after 17 minutes, quite a surprise.

[Whippet13]

Halftime: Albi 10 St Esteve 16 

[Whippet13]

18-16 to Albi, 52 minutes

[Whippet13]

St Esteve back in front 18-22, 59 minutes.

[Whippet13]

18-26 on 76 minutes

[Whippet13]

St Esteve win an entertaining game.

[bromleybulldog]

Very enjoyable game!

[Gomersall]

https://treizemondial.fr/saint-esteve-xiii-catalan-fait-plier-albi-et-remporte-la-coupe-de-france/
 

 

WRITTEN BY IDRISS · APRIL 5, 2025

 

At the end of a rhythmic final in Narbonne, Saint-Estève XIII Catalan won against Albi (18-26) and won the Coupe de France Lord Derby 2024-2025!

There is a good chance that even in their worst nightmares, Joris Canton and his staff had not imagined such a failed start to the game. Very undisciplined, and probably too galvanized by the stakes, the Albigensians totally missed their first quarter of an hour. Failures that were well exploited by the Baby Dracs. Thanks to two tries signed Florian Vailhen (3′) and Bruno Castany (14′) and two penalties from the same Castany, Saint-Estève XIII Catalan was leading 0-16 in the 15th minute and seemed well off to bring the Coupe de France Lord Derby back to Catalonia.

But here, the Albigensians have resources. After being picked cold, Tony Gigot's teammates returned to the game. Calm, and more disciplined, the Tarnais put their hands back on the ball and scored in turn two tries blow by Budden (27′) and Pedrero (35′). Still in contact at the break despite this totally missed start (10-16), the Albigensians could hope to return in the second period. And they seized the opportunity.

The Baby Dracs let the storm pass

Having to return to the score, Albi sank again at the beginning of the second act. Author of a dangerous tackle on Darrelatour, Brad Wall was logically excluded for 10 minutes. But this numerical inferiority did not bother the Albigesians. At 12, the Tarnais took the lead on the score thanks to a try-in by Clément Tailhades and 4 points at the foot of Tony Gigot (18-16, 50′).

Cornered and led to the score for the first time of the game, we thought that the young Dragons would eventually crack. But like Albi in first, the young Catalans had resources in second. Léo Darrelatour (56′) and Corentin Rey (72′) put their teammates back in front thanks to corner tests (18-26).

Ultra effective, and having been able to exploit the opposite errors, the Baby Dracs took the first trophy of the season, and a third success in three games against Albi. Too undisciplined in the beginnings, the Albigensians will be able to have big regrets...