French Grand Final set for Narbonne as play-off dates confirmed
Photo credit: Astreizix
The French Elite One Championship Final will be held in Narbonne on Sunday May 22, the French Federation has confirmed.
Carcassonne once again lead the way, sitting top of the table having completed all 16 of their regular season games.
Limoux could leapfrog them if they win their final game against Villeneuve by more than 25 points.
Reigning champions Lezignan could also finish level on points with Carcassonne, if they win their two remaining games – though they have a huge points difference to make up of almost 200.
Lezignan still have to play fourth placed Albi and Villeneuve.
A place in the top two guarantees a home semi-final.
Play-off schedule
The team finishing first will play their home semi-final against the winner of the match between third and sixth on Saturday May 7.
The winner of the play-off between the teams in fourth and fifth will travel to the second placed team on Sunday May 8.
The first round of the play-offs will take place on April 30 and May 1.
The top three and Albi have already secured play-off spots, with the remaining two a three-way fight between St Esteve, Avignon and Villeneuve.
A defensive bonus point will be enough for St Esteve to secure their play-off place at home to bottom of the table St Gaudens at the weekend.
Villeneuve would need to win their two remaining games away at Limoux and Lezignan, to make Avignon need anything from their final game at home to Toulouse.
As things stand, Avignon would have to travel to Lezignan in the play-offs, and St Esteve go to Albi.
The French Elite One Championship final
The Parc des Sports et de l’Amitie in Narbonne has a capacity of 12,000.
The Under 19s championship final will be played on the same day.
Narbonne sits approximately 65km north of Perpignan and to the east of Toulouse.
Both Toulouse and Catalans are away in Super League action at Huddersfield and Hull KR respectively on that weekend.
This weekend’s French Elite One Championship fixtures
- Albi v Lezignan
- St Esteve v St Gaudens
- Avignon v Toulouse
- Limoux v Villeneuve
