Having kept readers abreast of the four-way race for the French title, it was time for the cup to take over last weekend. There were some extraordinary results. Firstly, championship-chasers Lezignan almost lost at second-tier Lescure, squeezing home 28-24, and in the clash of the reserve grades, third-place St Esteve-XIII Catalan massacred Toulouse Broncos 86-6! Another bizarre annihilation was Albi beating Palau 60-6 despite being just a place above them in the league.
Provence club Carpentras will be the only Elite 2 club in the quarter-finals, where they will be joined, extraordinarily, by little US Ferrals XIII, currently second in the third tier. Ferrals, from a tiny Aude village, smashed fellow amateurs St Laurent 54-0. Any club whose badge is a bunch of grapes – they are from the Corbieres region – deserves our support in their bid to reach the semi-final.
Having kept readers abreast of the four-way race for the French title, it was time for the cup to take over last weekend. There were some extraordinary results. Firstly, championship-chasers Lezignan almost lost at second-tier Lescure, squeezing home 28-24, and in the clash of the reserve grades, third-place St Esteve-XIII Catalan massacred Toulouse Broncos 86-6! Another bizarre annihilation was Albi beating Palau 60-6 despite being just a place above them in the league.
Provence club Carpentras will be the only Elite 2 club in the quarter-finals, where they will be joined, extraordinarily, by little US Ferrals XIII, currently second in the third tier. Ferrals, from a tiny Aude village, smashed fellow amateurs St Laurent 54-0. Any club whose badge is a bunch of grapes – they are from the Corbieres region – deserves our support in their bid to reach the semi-final.
