Liffré once again Champions of Brittany
The Wild Boars of Liffré defeat the club of Rennes on their home pitch and win their eighth consecutive title of Brittany Championship, winning their ninth in total. Victory for Liffré (6-9) 27 – 20 (4-8) at the stade Bellangerais where up to this encounter the team from Rennes had been undefeated.
Liffré become Brittany Champions for 2015 winning their final match at Rennes.
On Saturday 25th of April the final match of the Brittany championships pitted 1st place Rennes against 2nd place Liffré where a win or a draw by the host club would have clinched the title for the Wild Geese. Difficult to predict a winner with a solid team from Rennes who had never lost on the pitch of Bellangerais and Liffré 7-time winners of the competition.
Prior to the match between Liffré and Rennes the match to decide third place in the 1st Division of the Brittany League was contested between Nantes and Lorient with Nantes winning the meeting and in doing so qualify for the Elite division of the French National Finals. The two clubs stayed on to watch the final that was also attended by a large number of supporters of both clubs and notably by the successful women’s club from Rennes as well as a number of supporters from Liffré.
From the throw-in the team of Rennes was the first to strike with a point scored on their first action in the match. However after a few minutes during which the defense of Liffré was unorganized, the Wild Boars turned things around to get back into the match and eventually take the lead. In front Antoine Botrel was efficient despite a missed penalty and the striking running game of Durrmann and Kersuzan were unstoppable. Within the first ten minutes of the first half, Liffré made consequtive scores to lead (4-5) 17 to 7 (1-4).
However the Wild Boars know that the match is long (2x30minutes) and that anything can happen certainly against the talented team from Rennes. Thus they continued to keep up the pressure to keep the Rennes team off the board as the duo of Thoumelin and Labarbe recover the ball numerous times in the midfield and add to the lead. The physical nature of the match forced Thomet, Labarbe and Kersuzan to come off the pitch but their replacements kept up the pressure. Yet during the closing minutes of the match Rennes found new energy and solutions to break through the defense of Duros and Malo who up to that point had been very solid. The lead quickly reduced, however the Boars held on to their precious lead. Final score: Victory for Liffré (6-9) 27 to 20 (4-8).
With this victory the club added another title to their impressive history with its 8th consecutive title as Brittany League Champions and 9th overall. The team celebrated their victory at the Shamrock, club sponsors who welcomed the victory party that went well into the early morning. The next match for Liffré will also be at the stade Bellangerais on the 23rd of May where they will could once again meet Rennes, this time for the final of the Brittany Cup.
Final standings for Divisoin 1 of the Brittany Championships:
- Liffré, 32 pts
- Rennes, 30
- Nantes, 23
- Lorient, 19
- Guérande, 14
victory 4pts, draw 2 pts, loss 1 pt, forfait 0 pt,