The Parc des Sports d’Aguiléra has opened the French season. Two days of sevens, sixteen teams, and a winner who were never in danger.

The Parc des Sports d’Aguiléra has opened the French season. Two days of sevens, the Top 14 sides plus Monaco and the Barbarians, and a winner who were never in danger.

Five matches, five wins

In Friday’s pool stage, Monaco beat Toulon 19-10 and then Racing 92 17-0. On Saturday, they saw off Pau 21-0 in the quarter-final, Toulouse 26-17 in the semi-final, and Toulon again 21-12 in the final. Over the whole leg, MR7 scored 104 points and conceded 39.

The quarter-final against Pau set the tone: 14-0 at half-time through tries from Rayne Barka and Matias Brocal, then a third from Guillaume Bouche after good work by Gaspard Lalli. Monaco did it without their captain for the last two matches, after Johan Demai-Hamecher took a knock in the quarter-final.

Toulon survived two nerve-shredding finishes

RCT reached the final after twice avoiding a crash. In the quarter-final against La Rochelle, twelve points down with under four minutes left, Toulon scored two tries and then snatched victory with a sudden-death drop goal from Dylan Chantreau (15-12). In the semi-final, against defending champions UBB, who only had to kick the ball into touch to go through, the same Chantreau scored after the hooter.

The final followed the opposite script. Trailing 0-14 against a Monaco side in control, Toulon came back to 12-14 through a penalty try awarded less than two minutes from the end, before conceding from a last attack finished in the corner.

It was also a clash of generations. For Monaco, Gaspard Lalli and Johan Demai-Hamecher are both 32. On the other side, Dylan Chantreau is 23 and Joé Quéré-Karaba 21.

Toulouse bided their time in the women’s event

Beaten by Blagnac in their opening game of the qualifying phase, the Toulouse women did not drop another match: a play-off against Grenoble, then a semi-final, then a final against a Clermont side who were solid over both days. Behind after the opening score, they eventually pulled clear to win 12-7.

Lili Dezou, Lina Queyroi and Kelly Arbey were in the side. The third-place match went to the Paris-region team, 21-0.

Former players with the whistle

Zack Holmes, who played for Toulouse, La Rochelle and UBB, refereed his first official matches in Biarritz. Gwenaël Duplenne, who spent almost his entire career at Vannes, did the same. Both men are on a fast-track refereeing course, with sevens serving as a testing ground.

What’s next

The second and final qualifying leg takes place in Pau on 28 and 29 August. The final will be held on 6 February 2027 at the Plenitude Arena.