Football Club de Lézignan claimed their fourth French Championnat with a thrilling 26-16 victory over Pia at Béziers on Saturday.

Having lost to the same opponents at the same stage last year, and in the final of the Coupe Lord Derby in 2006, it came as a great relief to the Sangliers – league leaders for most of the regular season – to regain the title of champions of France for the first time since victory over XIII Catalan in 1978.

8,233 spectators made their way to the Stade de la Méditerranée with over 5,000 expectant Lézignanais anticipating a tough challenge from the Donkeys, who finished second on the league ladder. This final represented the last opportunity to claim any silverware this season, both teams having suffered shock defeats in the semi-finals of the Coupe Lord Derby (Lézignan against Albi, and Pia against Limoux) and desperate to take something from a year in which they had been so dominant.

It was the Donkeys who opened the scoring from the boot of Maxime Grésèque (a player familiar to UK-based rugby league supporters from spells at Featherstone and Wakefield), and when winger Piquemal screamed down the touchline in the following set for an unconverted try, the Catalan side looked like disrupting the Lézignan party. But a nerve-settling penalty from Australian halfback James Wynne and a twentieth-minute try from compatriot fullback Taylor at a scrum move sent the vivid-pink Sangliers outfit into the lead (8-6). Things got even better for Lézignan as Taylor again went in, gathering a neat kick from winger Mazard on the half-hour to give a 12-6 lead that they took into the half-time break.

Pia needed a response, and duly obliged with a blockbusting run from Martins five minutes after the restart. Twelve-all. With Lézignan prop Bansept sent to the sin-bin, Pia saw the opportunity to force themselves back into a game they had looked out of. And it was their player-coach Dean Bosnich who reached over to take the Donkeys back ahead on fifty-five minutes, the former Cronulla man’s try going crucially unconverted to leave the Sangliers trailing by only four points. Lézignan came roaring back, and after Lacans was denied a try by some tenacious Pia defence, his back-row partner Franck Rovira crossed for a try with fifteen minutes remaining. Munoz added the extras. A game-breaking two minutes were completed when Mazard reacted fastest to Wynne’s high bomb, stretching Lézignan’s lead to eight points. Despite Pia’s efforts, the victory was wrapped up when veteran Wynne kicked a penalty on seventy-eight minutes to complete the scoring.

Lézignan coach Dominique Espugna could not conceal his delight at the victory: “There was just an explosion of joy five minutes from the end, when we realised we were champions. It took all of this town’s energy get us to this victory.”

BEZIERS (Stade de la Méditerranée). – Lézignan-Corbières 26 (12) – SM Pia XIII 12 (6)

Referee : M. Drizza.

Att: 8,233

Lézignan : Tries: Taylor (20, 30), Rovira (65), Mazard (67)
Conversions: Wynne (20), Munoz (65, 67), Penalties: Wynne (10), Munoz (78).

Pia : Tries: Piquemal (7), Martins (45), Bosnich (55),
Conversion: Grésèque (45), Penalty: Grésèque (5).

Lézignan Sin-bin: Bansept (47).

Lézignan : Taylor, Mazard, Mullane, Bringuier, Janzac, Cologni, Wynne, Brown, Bansept, Roméro, Beattie, Lacans, Rovira. Subs used: Tribillac, Aussaguel, Munoz, Laurent.

Pia : West, Piquemal, Franze, Djalout, Muniesa, Grésèque, Sant, Bosnich, Knecht, Pradal, Kennedy, Traversa, Martins. Subs used : Cala, Léger, Garrabé, Carrère.