Albi turned on their best performance of the season to upset Carcassonne, five places above them in the table, and cruise to a 34-16 victory.
Tipped to be one of the front-runners for the championship title, Carcassonne fell to their second defeat in a row as they failed to contain an energetic Albi side which welcomed back several first-choice players, including the influential Brad Wall. The home side led from start to finish, taking an early 10-0 lead from tries by Jack Cook and Nittim Pedrero before the Canaries opened their account when Sophien Bitigri touched down from a Clément Herrero pass. Talented youngster Baptiste Fabre, whose 40-20 had paved the way for the first try, added a try under the posts and two goals to give Albi a valuable 18-6 lead as the teams turned round.
The Herrero-Bitigri combination narrowed the gap, but Albi could not be stopped. Cédric Mazars went over for the decisive try and a 24-10 lead before Pedrero intercepted and raced away over 80 metres for his second. Fabre kicked three more goals before Lasarusa Tabu went over for a consolation try for a disappointing Carcassonne, who went back to the Cité without even a bonus point.
The expected close contest between Avignon and Villeneuve, in fifth and sixth place respectively before the weekend, failed to materialise as Renaud Guigue’s men, on their own ground, dictated the game. Villeneuve were already trailing 12-0 when key player Thomas Lasvenes went off injured. The Leopards never recovered, letting in six more tries, despite the dismissal of Avignon’s Sofiane Ghanem for a high tackle, as they went down to a crushing 46-6 defeat. Avignon forward Saloty Mendy touched down twice and captain Olivier Arnaud scored a try and kicked seven goals.
Two of the leading teams, Lézignan and Limoux, had big wins against the bottom two sides, Toulouse Olympique reserves and St Gaudens. Toulouse, however, gave Lézignan a true contest, at least until the hour. Trailing by only 22-16 at half-time, they were set back by Thomas Lacans’ interception try from deep inside his own half but came back when Matt Ross offloaded for Pierre-Jean Lima to bring the score to 28-20. From that point on, Lézignan proved too strong, scoring four more tries in the last 18 minutes – three of them to Jean-Baptiste Bousquet – and running up a score of 50-20.
Limoux had an all too easy task against a St Gaudens side that looked out of its depth and had little to offer in attack. The hosts, who were 20-0 ahead at half-time, scored almost at will in the last quarter to post a 54-0 victory.
RESULTS
Albi 34 Carcassonne 16
Avignon 46 Villeneuve 6
Lézignan 50 Toulouse 20
Limoux 54 St Gaudens 0
Bye: St Estève-XIII Catalan
FIXTURES
Saturday 26 February
St Estève-XIII Catalan v Avignon 16:30
St Gaudens v Toulouse 15:00
Villeneuve v Albi 19:00
Sunday 27 February
Carcassonne v Lézignan 16:00
Bye: Limoux
Times and dates tbc
| P | W | L | BP | For | Agst | Diff | PTS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lézignan | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 345 | 170 | 175 | 30 | ||||||
| Limoux | 10 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 331 | 141 | 190 | 24 | ||||||
| Carcassonne | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 300 | 162 | 138 | 22 | ||||||
| Avignon | 9 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 211 | 195 | 16 | 17 | ||||||
| St Estève-XIII Catalan | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 216 | 201 | 15 | 16 | ||||||
| Villeneuve | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 169 | 215 | -46 | 15 | ||||||
| Albi | 9 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 207 | 234 | -27 | 13 | ||||||
| Toulouse | 9 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 154 | 295 | -141 | 5 | ||||||
| St Gaudens* | 9 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 88 | 408 | -320 | -1 |
3 points a win, a bonus point for loss by 12 points or fewer
*Deducted two points for failing to fulfil fixture against Carcassonne, with 30-0 win awarded to Carcassonne
The above content is also available in the regular weekly edition of League Express, on newsstands every Monday in the UK and as a digital download. Click here for more details.