Élite 1 féminine: Stade Bordelais’ four in a row broken down in numbers

Stade Bordelais retained their Élite 1 féminine crown by getting the better of ASM Romagnat (22-10). A fourth title in a row, the first time any side has won four straight in the history of the championship. And a feat that a comparison of the two seasons makes even more striking.

A controlled final, three tries to one

The Lionnes never wobbled. Three tries to one is the bookkeeping summary of their win. Axelle Berthoumieu (29th minute), Morgane Bourgeois (36th) and then Oihana Tomé Belmonte (75th) touched down for Bordeaux, while Romagnat replied only through a converted try from Elodie Fernandez (53rd). At the break, the Bordeaux side already led 12-3.

Discipline also weighed in: two yellow cards for the Auvergne side (Salomé Perraudin on 11 minutes, Anaïs Grando on 37) against just one for Bordeaux (Marie Ibanez, 59).

Morgane Bourgeois, metronome of the title

The club-developed full-back drove the Bordeaux attack. In the final, Morgane Bourgeois scored 12 of her team’s 22 points: a try, two conversions and a penalty. It was a recital she had already delivered a week earlier in the semi-final, where she also accounted for 12 points. That makes 24 points on her own across the two play-off matches.

Bordeaux – Romagnat: two seasons, one Brennus

Over the long haul, though, it was Romagnat who had come out on top. The Auvergne side finished second in the regular season, with 16 wins and a single defeat, the best defence in the championship (165 points and 19 tries conceded) and even two wins over Bordeaux (26-15 and then 27-20). The Lionnes, third (14 wins, 4 defeats), had the best attack in terms of tries.

The whole hierarchy was turned upside down in the play-offs. After overturning Stade Toulousain, the regular-season leaders, in the semi-final (27-25, tries from Berivan Mailagi, Axelle Berthoumieu and Elsa Peyras), the Bordeaux side smothered the best defence in the country in the final, restricting Romagnat to 10 points when they had been putting up an average of 32.8. Across the two knockout matches: 49 points scored, 35 conceded, six tries.

What changed in the final

To win it, the Lionnes had to depart from their usual script. The comparison with their regular-season standards speaks volumes.

Bordeaux scored later and less than usual: a first try in the 29th minute (Berthoumieu) against the 13th on average, and only three scores in all. The difference was made at the other end. Romagnat, who were putting up 32.8 points a match, were muzzled to 10, almost six points below Bordeaux’s average concession. And all of it in a more stop-start match: three yellow cards, two of them for the Auvergne side.

One common denominator with the rest of the year remains: the boot of Morgane Bourgeois, who kicked 7 of her 12 points. Fewer flashes of brilliance, more control: the face of a play-off team.

Four titles, a dynasty like no other

After 2023, 2024 and 2025, this 2026 title makes Stade Bordelais the first club to complete a run of four in the history of the championship. Three in a row had already matched Toulouse Fémina Sports, La Teste-de-Buch and MHR. Four in a row had never been done. You had to go back to 1978 to find such a grip on the competition.

And all of it at the end of a turbulent season: a disappointing World Cup, the departure of manager François Ratier to France, and a Championship played without the internationals.

The end of an era, not of an appetite

For captain and hooker Agathe Gérin (30), this fourth Brennus means retirement. “There is a crazy love and a crazy attachment in this club,” she said. Morgane Bourgeois, for her part, is already looking further ahead: “We’ll never stop loving this.” A fifth title is already on their minds.