Elite 1 to have 9 teams

Recently we posted about the voluntary relegation of Palau Broncos, and as a result of that and the pandemic going on the Elite 1 season will startin October with just 9 teams. 

You can get more details on this from Loverugbyleague.com by clicking here. 

Here is the fixture matrix from the French Rugby League website. 

Click to enlarge

We will cover all St Esteve matches again on the website as before. 

We have no idea whats happening with the Dragons kit and Oneills, but they have expanded their St Esteve range online so it might be worth snapping up some kit ahead of the season. 

Click here for the online store of St Esteve

Ex-Drac theme continues at nearby Palau

Thanks to our ongoing love of Oliver Elima we have always held a candle for Palau Broncos. 

Their voluntary relegation down to the Ligue National is a sad thing for us. 

Benoit Albert left the club at the end of the season having replaced Olivier Elima midway through the stop-start 2020/2021 campaign. 

The club had thrown a bit more money into the campaign so to end up going down the leagues will have been galling. 

However a ray of light has come with the annoucement of their head coach for next season. 

Rodney Howe is a name that needs no introduction to Catalans fans having working in S&C at Stade Gilbert Brutus. 

He was always an excitable proposition behind the posts dishing out water when we'd conceded. 

We wish him luck in the job and will be keeping our usual eye on our second favourite teams journey this winter. 

Palau 14 - 36 St Esteve

 Palau (8) 14

T : H. Miloudi 2

G : A. Miloudi 3

 

Saint-Estève-XIII Catalan (20) 36

T : Carré 2, Cozza, Flovie, Llong, Zenon

G : Franco 6

Super Romain Franco has added kicking to his already wonderful game and was able to ensure a decent away win in the derby over Palau. 

To be fair, since the home side sacked Olivier Elima we have been less into them as our second team. So feelings weren't as mixed as they were when the two teams last met. 

It was great to see Dragons coach Steve McNamara in attendance casting his eye over Justin Murphy and Greg Birds team. 

With the clubs new found strategy of going for younger home grown players over NRL cast offs I hope that this is the dawn of a truly new era for us. 

St Esteve 24 - 28 Carcassonne

 St-Estève XIII Catalan (6) 24

T : Flovie 2, Goffin, Dezaria

G : Brochon 4

Carcassonne (16) 28

T : Gambaro, A. Escamilla 2, Herréro, A. Albérola

G : Herréro 4

The Catalans 7 match winning run came to an end late on against another of Elite 1's big guns in Carcassonne. 

After a spectacular run of wins that took them to the summit this loss saw them replaced by their vanquishers. 

The play off positions look quite tight now, especially the last of the 4 slots with Avignon battling Limuox and Villeneuve. 

Table reproduced from Treize Mondial Full table click here. 

At the foot of the league Palau finally got off the mark for 2020/2021 beating Toulouse. 

We are delighted for our second favourite team !!