Seventh day of the French Para Rugby XIII Championship for the two teams of the Handi Dragons Catalans, who will exceptionally play at the Leucate sports complex this Sunday.
This Sunday, January 19, 2025, as the curtain rises, the Catalan Dragons reserve team will face the Basques of Aingirak Euskadi. A shock with a taste of revenge for the hosts of the meeting, following their 42-32 defeat at the opening of the championship. For a team newly promoted to Elite 1, it has nothing to be ashamed of having lost against the semi-finalists of the last edition of this championship. The Basque team is renowned for its very fluid play, enhanced by the dazzling performances of Julien Pennella, author of 34 points out of 38 in the last match. The locals, for their part, will be led by Léo Hivernat who scored several tries recently. Dragons advantage in the ranking, since they are 2nd in their group… just ahead of the Basques.
Remember that each team of the Catalan club is placed in a different group to avoid them facing each other. After an encouraging first half-season, where they struggled against the big guys, the objective of the reserves will be to rectify the situation in order to hope to finish at the top of the championship.
-Two international players against the Dragons
The meeting will be followed by the first team match, at 4 p.m., which will take on the Toulon team. After a delicate success during the “extra game”, a match between a team from each of the two groups, against the Pandas de Montauban (44-52), the Catalans will be keen to win against a Var team last in group 2. This would allow Gilles Clausells' men to consolidate their first place and work tactically to prepare for the final phase. Be wary though. The men of Fabien Lartigue, coach of the opposing team, although in a bad dynamic, are vice-champions of Elite 2, and count in their ranks two international players: Thomas Candela and Lisa Lartigue, first woman and more young cape of the French team, at the age of 17. Latest confrontation: 60-4.
A big weekend in sight for the Catalans Dragons club, which will have to seduce a novice public in Aude lands.
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