Toulouse Olympique and London Broncos are just 80 minutes away from a return to the Betfred Super League. Here is a closer look at Sunday’s Betfred Championship Grand Final.
Sylvain Houles’ Toulouse side have home advantage as they welcome London Broncos to Stade Ernest Wallon.
In 2023, Olympique have lost just one fixture in France and that was to Featherstone Rovers. However, that was away from Stade Ernest Wallon, so their unbeaten record at that stadium could continue on Sunday.
Last weekend, Toulouse reached the final after defeating Bradford 38-20 in the Betfred Championship Semi-Final. Benjamin Laguerre scored a brace during the success.
The French side ended the regular season in second, with 19 wins from their 27 games. Toulouse usurpingly had statistically the second-best attack and defence in the league. Guy Armitage has been their top scorer this season with 22 tries, meanwhile, Jake Shorrocks converted 102 goals, the most of anybody in the Betfred Championship.
Despite beating London 52-0 earlier in the season during Round Eight, they should not take London lightly after an impressive end to the season, as well as the Broncos winning both other meetings in 2023.
Mike Eccles’ London side have had a very impressive season and will be looking to end it in perfect fashion with promotion to the Betfred Super League.
On Tuesday, Mike Eccles was named as the Betfred Championship Coach of the Year at the Rugby League Awards. Eccles was not the only Bronco to win an award. Bill Leyland was named Young Player of the Year, meanwhile, Dean Parata was a joint winner of the Betfred Championship Player of the Year with Halifax Panthers’ winger Lachlan Walmsley.
London ended the season strongly with 10 wins in their last 12 matches, before huge away wins at Sheffield Eagles and Featherstone Rovers in their two play-off matches so far.
Alex Walker is a player who will be looking to return to Super League with London, and he had a very impressive performance last Sunday. Walker opened the scoring for the Broncos before adding a second later in the half as they defeated Featherstone.
Iliess Macani scored at the weekend which was his 60th try for London. If he was to score a hat-trick, it would take him to 100 career tries.
This season, London have defeated Toulouse on two of the three meetings. The Broncos survived a late fightback at Summer Bash to defeat the Broncos 14-10. Before then beating them 22-6 in the Betfred Championship in Round 18.
The Betfred Championship Grand Final will take place at 2:30PM this Sunday and will be shown live on Viaplay Sports.
