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Elite One Championship 2018–19
Elite One Championship 2018–19
League	Elite One Championship
Duration	19 rounds
Teams	10
Broadcast partners	beIN Sports; Radio Marseillette
2018–19 season
Champions	Saint-Estève Catalan; 2nd Elite One title
League leaders	AS Carcassonne
Biggest home win	AS Carcassonne 50 – 4 Toulouse Olympique Broncos (22 April 2019)
Biggest away win	Albi RL 54 – 10 Toulouse Olympique Broncos (26 May 2019)
Top point-scorer(s)	Aurelien Decarnin 154
Top try-scorer(s)	Romain Franco 24
	← 2017–2018 2019–2020 →

The 2018–19 Elite One Championship was the 84th season of France's domestic rugby league competition and 17th known as the Elite One Championship. Ten teams competed in the regular season playing 19 matches each from November 2018 to June 2019, with the top six teams playing a three-week finals series throughout June 2019.

Saint-Estève XIII Catalan won their second Elite One Championship beating minor premiers AS Carcassonne in the final 32–24 after finishing 2nd in the regular season.

Teams

Location of teams in 2018–19 season

Elite One Championship
Team	Stadium	Location
Albi RL	Stadium Mazicou	Albi, Tarn
SO Avignon	Parc des Sports (Avignon)	Avignon, Vaucluse
AS Carcassonne	Stade Albert Domec	Carcassonne, Aude
FC Lézignan	Stade du Moulin	Lézignan-Corbières, Aude
Limoux Grizzlies	Stade de l'Aiguille	Limoux, Aude
Palau XIII Broncos	Stade Georges Vaills	Palau-del-Vidre, Pyrénées-Orientales
Saint-Estève Catalan	Stade Municipal	Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales
Saint-Gaudens Bears	Stade Jules Ribet	Saint-Gaudens, Haute-Garonne
Toulouse Olympique Broncos	Stade des Minimes	Toulouse, Haute-Garonne
Villeneuve Leopards	Stade Max Rousie	Villeneuve-sur-Lot, Lot-et-Garonne

Format

Regular season

Each team was scheduled to every other team twice, once at home and the other away. Each team then played another team again during Magic Weekend that was held on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Carcassonne, to make a total of 19 regular season matches for each team.

Finals series

At the end of the regular season, the top six of the regular season advance to the knockout stage. 1st and second receive a bye for the first week of finals as third plays sixth (Qualifying Final 1) and fourth plays fifth (Qualifying Final 2), with the losers of both matches eliminated. First then plays the winner of Qualifying final 1 and second then plays the winner of Qualifying Final 2. The winners of these two matches play in Grand Final on 29 June at Stadium Municipal d'Albi in Albi.

Regular season

Home and Away

Home \ Away	ALB	AVI	CAR	LÉZ	LIM	PAL	STE	STG	TOU	VIL
Albi		47–4	36–24	28–24	36–24	26–27	18–42	26–10	8–34	30–16
Avignon	22–34		26–22	10–36	28–32	12–24	16–54	40–18	22–16	12–20
Carcassonne	22–8	16–19		34–26	19–18	20–0	18–20	44–24	50–4	30–16
Lézignan	10–20	28–20	29–22		34–4	58–43	36–10	34–6	48–28	20–44
Limoux	26–16	48–10	14–31	22–16		30–14	22–20	42–12	42–22	20–12
Palau	38–42	32–16	40–46	4–42	16–20		24–32	14–24	30–36	16–20
Saint-Estève Catalan	42–24	56–22	12–36	24–30	46–18	36–24		24–20	38–30	34–22
Saint-Gaudens	18–48	38–14	10–40	26–24	26–36	24–44	26–28		20–16	20–22
Toulouse	10–54	6–30	22–60	20–50	12–56	35–26	10–50	46–10		26–48
Villeneuve	40–8	20–10	18–24	30–14	12–24	40–34	14–18	24–32	30–18

Source: ^[1]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Magic Weekend

Magic Weekend was held on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, 2019, with all matches being played in Carcassonne. All match winners would be awarded 4 points instead of the regular 3. ^[2] ^[3]

Date	Team 1	Score	Team 2
13 April 18:00	Palau	42–24	Saint-Gaudens
13 April 18:00	Lézignan	18–14	Limoux
13 April 18:00	Toulouse	30–31	Avignon
14 April 15:00	Villeneuve	24–52	Albi
13 April 18:00	Saint-Estève Catalan	22–30	Carcassonne

Table

2018-19 Elite One Championship
Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	BP	Pts	Qualification
1	Carcassonne	19	14	5	588	364	+224	6	48	Semi-Finals
2	Saint-Estève XIII Catalan (C)	19	14	5	608	440	+168	3	45	Semi-Finals
3	Lézignan	19	12	7	577	409	+168	6	42	Qualifying-Finals
4	Limoux Grizzlies	19	13	6	512	400	+112	3	42
5	Albi RL	19	12	7	561	457	+104	3	39
6	Villeneuve Leopards	19	10	9	472	442	+30	6	36
7	Palau XIII Broncos	19	5	14	492	583	−91	11	26
8	SO Avignon	19	6	13	365	577	−212	7	25
9	Saint-Gaudens Bears	19	5	14	388	608	−220	4	19
10	Toulouse Olympique Broncos	19	4	15	421	704	−283	5	17

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 3 points for a victory; 4 points for a victory in Magic Weekend; 1 point bonus for losing team if the margin is less than 12. If two teams have equal points then the separation factor is point difference. If a team has a greater point difference they rank higher on the table.
(C) Champions

Finals series


Qualifying Finals			Semi-Finals			Final

			Stade Albert-Domec, Carcassonne

Stade de l'Aiguille, Limoux			1	Carcassonne	20

4	Limoux	26	4	Limoux	16	Stadium Municipal d'Albi, Albi

5	Albi	24				1	Carcassonne	24

			Stade Municipal, Saint-Estève			2	Saint-Estève Catalan	32

Stade du Moulin, Lézignan			2	Saint-Estève Catalan	38

3	Lézignan	35	3	Lézignan	18

6	Villeneuve	20

Qualifying Finals

Limoux vs Albi

Sunday, 16 June, 2019
16:30

Limoux Grizzlies	26 – 24	Albi RL
Tries: Thomas Lasvenes (5') 1 Maxime Péault (23') 1 Henry Noki (45') 1 Mathieu Mayans (54') 1 Mickaël Murcia (68') 1 Goals: Mickaël Murcia 2 (68' pen, 72') Allan Torreilles 1 (45')	^[4] 1st: 8 – 12 2nd: 18 – 12	Tries: 2 (9', 68') Jye Ballinger 1 (12') Nittim Pedrero 1 (77') Cédric Mazars Goals: 4 Baptiste Fabre (9', 12', 68', 77')

Stade de l'Aiguille, Limoux
Referee: B. Casty and Vergnes

Lezignan vs Villeneuve

Sunday, 16 June, 2019
16:30

FC Lézignan	35 – 20	Villeneuve Leopards
Tries: Cyril Stacul (33', 69') 2 Benjamin Tort (3') 1 Valentin Ferret (45') 1 Lilian Albert (39') 1 Maxime Benausse (73') 1 Goals: Damien Cardace 5 (19', 33', 39', 69', 73') Field Goals: Amine Miloudi (79') 1	^[5] 1st: 22 – 10 2nd: 13 – 10	Tries: 2 (22', 54') Maxence Carrasco 1 (13') Loïc Marira 1 (64') Dorian Brioux Goals: 2 Aurelien Decarnin (13', 64')

Stade du Moulin, Lézignan-Corbières
Referee: M. Drizza and K. Delarose

Semi-finals

Carcassonne vs Limoux

Saturday, 22 June, 2019
19:30

Carcassonne	20 – 16 (a.e.t)	Limoux Grizzlies
Tries: Bastien Canet (5') 1 Luc Franco (50') 1 Tony Tumusa (77') 1 Nabil Djalout (82') 1 Goals: Alexis Albérola 2 (5', 17' pen)	^[6] 1st: 8 – 6 2nd: 8 – 10 ET: 4 – 0	Tries: 1 (66') Thomas Lasvenes Goals: 6 Mickaël Murcia (20' pen, 35' pen, 38' pen, 54' pen, 59' pen, 66')

Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne
Attendance: 800
Referee: B. Casty and M.Drizza

Catalan vs Lezignan

Sunday, 23 June, 2019
16:00

Saint-Estève Catalan	38 – 18	FC Lézignan
Tries: Arthur Romano (9', 21') 2 Robin Brochon (17', 68') 2 Ben Pomeroy (29') 1 Romain Franco (56', 78') 2 Goals: Joan Guasch 5 (13' pen, 17', 43' pen, 68', 78' )	^[7] 1st: 20 – 12 2nd: 18 – 6	Tries: 1 (3') Michaël Tribillac 1 (36') Florian Bousquet 1 (67') Amine Miloudi Goals: 3 Damien Cardace (3', 36', 67')

Stade Municipal, Perpignan
Attendance: 1400
Referee: K. Delarose and S. Vincent

Final

Teams

Carcassonne	Position	Saint Esteve Catalan
Tony Tumusa	Fullback	Robin Brochon
Alexis Escamilla	Wing	Romain Franco
Vincent Albert	Centre	Thomas Ambert
Jamie Anderson	Centre	Ben Pomeroy
Clement Soubeyras	Wing	Ugo Martin
Luc Franco	Five-eighth	Joan Guasch
Alexis Albérola	Halfback	Arthur Mourgue
Amar Sabri	Prop	Mathieu Cozza
Julien Agullo	Hooker	Alexis Meresta-Doucet
Bastien Canet	Prop	Arnaud Bartès
Jean-Philippe Baile (c)	2nd Row	Paul Séguier
Nabil Djalout	2nd Row	Ugo Perez
Matthieu Khedimi	Lock	Thibaud Margalet

Johnathon Soum	Reserve	Sébastien Bled
Damien Tétart	Reserve	Valentin Zafra
Geoffrey Zava	Reserve	Lambert Belmas
Florent Rouanet	Reserve	Hugo Salabio


Patrick Albérola	Coach	Benoît Albert

Match Summary

Saturday, 29 June, 2019
20:00

Carcassonne	24 – 32	Saint-Estève Catalan
Tries: Jamie Anderson (7') 1 Vincent Albert (15') 1 Luc Franco (27') 1 Alexis Escamilla (30') 1 Goals: Alexis Albérola 2 (15', 27', 30', 61' pen) Sin Bins: Julien Agullo (65') Nabil Djalout (79')	^[8] 1st: 22 – 4 2nd: 2 – 28	Tries: 1 (25') Ben Pomeroy 1 (41') Paul Seguier 1 (42') Arthur Mourgue 1 (50') Ugo Perez 1 (68') Alexis Meresta-Doucet Goals: 1 (41') Joan Guasch 5 Robin Brochon (42', 50', 55' pen, 68', 73' pen) Sin Bins:(50') Arnaud Bartes (79') Hugo Salabio