France

D1 stage 1 (M) : Rennes shook but won

by
UWH News

The D1 was back this weekend in Sarcelles with the autumn round. Two days of high level competition after two years without playing any official game for the teams involved. We’ll tell you how it ended for the men’s D1 !

The two-time defending French champions have not lost any of their glory. With a record of 6 victories and a draw over the whole tournament, Raphaël Ginsbourger’s Rennes team perfectly mastered their subject, especially in the final against Moirans. With this first place, Rennes confirms its status and shows that even after two years without an official match, they are still there.

The Moirans confirmed the hopes placed in them by obtaining a superb result with a second place in this round of D1. Beaten in the final, the Moirannais achieved a perfect record in their group with 4 wins in as many games and above all no goals conceded during this phase. Moirans continued to impress in the semi-final where they went on to win in sudden death against Dinan. Best attack with 26 goals scored, best defence with only 5 goals conceded, Moirans didn’t make a show of it and sent the message that they will be a force to be reckoned with in round 3 and for the final title.

The other Breton team, Dinan, remained true to themselves. Placed on the third place of the podium, the Dinannais did not succeed in confirming their position and had to be satisfied with the small final against Fontenay. The team, composed of several internationals, recovered well and beat the French team 4-1 but the losses against Rennes in the opening game (1-2) and against Moirans (2-3) in the semi-final will leave their mark. They will have to be more efficient in round 3 if the Bretons want to win this D1.

Fontenay’s counter-performance

Beaten by Moirans (0-2) in their first match, Fontenay were somewhat out of their depth. In the games that followed, Fontenay struggled to put their game together and did not really give satisfaction despite their short victories against Saintes (2-1), Diderot XII (3-2) and Le Chesnay (2-1). On Sunday, Fontenay seemed to have found themselves. Against Pontoise, Hervé Taurus and his partners developed their game and gave them no chance (2-0). Unfortunately, at the end of a breathless match against Rennes, Fontenay had to lose after a sudden death (0-1) and did not necessarily recover, since they conceded a new defeat and not the least in the small final against Dinan (1-4).

After a period of inactivity two years ago at the French championships, Pontoise got back on track with a Top 5 in this first round of D1. With a good team on paper and a second place last season behind Rennes, the Val d’Oise team managed a good performance against the Bretons in the group stage by holding them to a 3-3 draw. Unfortunately, a short defeat against Dinan (3-2) and a loss against Fontenay (0-2) in the quarters kept Pontoise away from the podium. In the end, Thomas Roussel and his teammates won a fifth place in style against Diderot XII with a scathing 5-0.

Diderot XII and Franconville followed suit in the group stage. With no wins to their name, the two Ile-de-France teams woke up on Sunday with opening wins over Pessac and Saintes. However, Franconville had to lose to Rennes after a crazy match in which they made the French champion doubt until sudden death where they finally lost (2-1). Diderot XII also lost to Moirans in the quarter-finals with a score of 2-1. During this round of D1, Diderot XII and Franconville had difficulty shaking the established order but finally managed to preserve the essential: a place in the top 8 to ensure being in pool A during round 3.

Pessac and Saintes in group B

Last to qualify for group A, Le Chesnay managed to get out of the game in this round 1. Third in their group, Stéphane Sandor’s team met Dinan in the quarter-finals and lost 3-0. The rest of the day, they were unable to win but thanks to their good results in the group, they secured a place between 7th and 8th place and the objective was thus fulfilled.

This was not the case for Pessac and Saintes who both lost in the quarter finals. Facing Franconville, Saintes was no match for a team that was much better than the day before and did not give them a chance (2-4 defeat). Pessac were beaten 4-1 by Diderot XII. The two teams met for a classification match and the game turned in favour of Pessac (victory 4-2).