The 2017–18 Coupe de France Lord Derby was the 80th edition of the

Coupe de France Lord Derby The Coupe de France Lord Derby (), or just Coupe Lord Derby ('Lord Derby Cup'), is the premier knockout competition for the sport of rugby league football in France, as well as the name of its championship trophy. The tournament was first conte ...

, the premier

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

knockout competition in France. It began on 4 November 2017 and ended with the final at the

Stade Gilbert Brutus Stade Gilbert Brutus is a rugby league stadium in Perpignan, France, which has been the home ground of the Catalans Dragons since 2007. History The Stade Gilbert Brutus was opened in 1962 and built as the home ground of French Rugby League C ...

on 10 June 2018. The defending champions were

AS Carcassonne Association Sportive of Carcassonne are a semi-professional rugby league football club based in Carcassonne in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in the south of France. They play in the French Super XIII and are one of th ...

who defeated

FC Lézignan XIII Football Club de Lézignan (often referred to as the Lézignan Sangliers) are a semi-professional rugby league, rugby league football club based in Lézignan-Corbières in the Departments of France, department of Aude in the south of France. They ...

in the 2016–17 final. In the 2017–18 competition, Carcassonne were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Lézignan who then lost in the semi-final to eventual champions

Saint-Estève XIII Catalan Saint-Estève XIII Catalan are a semi-professional rugby league team based in Perpignan in the region of Pyrénées-Orientales in the south of France. Founded in 2006 following the transfer of Catalans Dragons from the French rugby league system ...

who defeated XIII Limouxin 26–30 in the final.

Background

The 80th edition of the

, started on 4 November 2017 and concluded with the final on 10 June 2018. The 60 teams taking part were from Elite 1 (10 teams), Elite 2 (10 teams), and the

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

and Federal divisions (40 teams). The majority of teams entered the competition in Round 2 and Elite 1 teams joined in Round 3. In matches between teams from different divisions, the venue was the stadium of the team from the lower division.

Format and dates

Round 1

The draw for the Round 1 took place in October 2017. Ties was played over the weekend of 4–5 November.

Round 2

The draw for Round 2 was made in November. Ties were played over the weekend of 16–17 December. Because

US Entraigues XIII Union Sportive Entraigues XIII are a rugby league team based in Entraigues-sur-la-Sorgue in the region of Vaucluse in the south-west of France. They play in the National Division 1 the third tier of rugby league in France. Their home ground is th ...

(2nd) withdrew from competition, the last team in the draw,

Tonneins XIII Tonneins XIII are a French Rugby league club based in Tonneins, Lot-et-Garonne, in the Aquitaine region. They play in the French Elite 2 championship. The club plays its home games at the Stade Jean-Bernege History Founded in 1934 making th ...

, were given a bye.

Round 3

The draw for Round 3 was made on 20 December. Ties were played over the weekend of 13–14 January.

Round 4

The draw for Round 4 was made on 27 January. Ties were played over the weekend of 17–18 February.

Quarter-finals

The draw for quarter-finals was made on 26 February. Ties were played over the weekend of 30 March to 2 April.

Semi-finals

The draw for semi-finals was made on 11 April. Ties were played on 5 May at the Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne.

Final

The final of the 2017–18 Coupe de France Lord Derby took place on 10 June at the

, Perpignan. The match was preceded by the final of the (under 19s) Luc Nitard Cup. XIII Limouxin had won the competition twice before, in the 1995–96 and 2007–08 seasons. Since their last win they had reached the final several times, most recently in the 2015–16 competition in which they lost to

. The 2016 final was the team's first win as Saint-Estève XIII Catalan, though the cup had been won three times in the early 2000s as Union Treiziste Catalane. The score was level at 26–26 after 80 minutes. Saint-Estève XIII Catalan won the match 30–26 with a

golden point The golden point, a sudden death overtime system, is used to resolve drawn matches in a number of sports. The term is borrowed from soccer's now-defunct golden goal. Rugby league Australia The golden point is used to determine a winner (where a ...

try in extra time.

Teams

XIII Limouxin: Th. Lasvenes, L. Franco, Mayans, Garrouste, R. Péault, Torreilles, Murcia, D. Pelo, S. Teixido, Herold, Puso, J. Edwards, Rouch
''Substitutes'': Fl. Bousquet, Yesa, Bartuziak, Gonzalez-Trique
''Head coach'': Saint-Estève XIII Catalan: Jouffret, J. Nègre, Mat. Pala, Ambert, J. Flovie, Lu. Albert, Guasch, Th. Margalet, Meresta-Doucet, Belmas, B. Vergniol, Peez, Goudemand
''Substitutes'': A. Da Costa, Bartès, Saloty, Séguier
''Head coach'': Source:

Broadcast matches

Notes

References

{{Rugby league in France Rugby league competitions in France 2017 in French rugby league 2018 in French rugby league