The meeting between the Angers team and its Proligue opponent was highly anticipated. Mulhouse and Cournon also played an important role in preventing Saintes from qualifying. Mulhouse had a narrow victory against Martigues, while Cournon was solid against Hazebrouck.
The match between Mulhouse-Rixheim and Martigues was particularly interesting. Mulhouse had ended its winning streak against Angers the previous week and wanted to continue its momentum. The local players played well, especially David Eponouh and Antoine Jean-Baptiste-Simonne, who both scored 6 goals. Martigues was not far behind however with a score of 18-15 at halftime. Despite the efforts of Thomas Cometto, who scored 9 goals from 12 attempts, Martigues failed to catch up and lost by just one goal, with a final score of 27-26 in favor of Mulhouse.
The chase between Mulhouse & Cournon continues
Cournon also had a strong performance at Hazebrouck, although the Dragons were beaten last week by Annecy. Despite the exceptional performances of Ludovic Assati in the pivot and good penalties from Julien Cadel, it was the locals who took the advantage at half-time. However, Laurent Lagier-Pitre and Matthéo Peigue allowed the Auvergnats to take control of the match and win a valuable victory. The fight for second place in Proleague therefore continues between the Dragons and the Wolves, and this duel will be followed until the end of the season.
For its part, Saintes is not yet mathematically eliminated, but after a significant defeat in Annecy, the team is now 5 points behind with 3 games to play. The arabesques of David Garcia and Nicolas Moutibe were not enough against the impressive performance of Matt Lafleur, who scored 12 goals. The match was quickly resolved in the second half of the match, and the final result was clear. CSAV will have to demonstrate a great performance during the next day against Élite Val d’Oise to maintain their second place.
Lively clash between Pau & Élite Val d’Oise
The three-week truce will be beneficial for the Élite Val d’Oise team which is going through a bad patch. Since their victory against Angers on February 18, they have only won against the bottom team in the standings. For their part, Pau Nousty also experienced difficulties. The match between the two teams was intense with dangers on all sides. Although the visitors took the lead in the first half thanks to Romaric Biglietti and Armand Civil, the rest of the match was eventful. Red cards were handed out and several players were sent off from the match. Despite this, Pau Nousty managed to take control at the end of the match and achieve victory, thus closing in on one point in the standings of their opponent (29-25).
In the other two meetings, the favorites achieved controlled victories. At Gonfreville, Angers had to face a phenomenal Maël Fouga and a solid Norman defense, but they managed to widen the gap in the second half to win (29-31). On the other side, Paris Saint-Germain quickly took the upper hand at Lanester. Despite the exclusion of Valentin Bzdynga, the usual top scorers shone, notably Wallem-Konrad Peleka, Baptiste Clay and Léo Plantin. For Lanester, Andric Brun performed well and managed to bring his team within two points in the second half (25-27, 46′). Finally, Meddy Hoguel-Syphar scored eight goals for his team (30-38).
There are only three days of the championship left and the next day will be decisive for the Élite Val d’Oise team which will face the red lantern Dreux-Vernouillet. They won’t be able to afford to make mistakes.