LIVESTREAM France: Toulouse Ours @ Catalans Grizzlys, June 5, 13:00 CET (1 pm, 07:00 am ET)

AFI | American Football | 06/05/2022

Graphic: Igor Lazarevic

The Catalans Grizzlys (6-3) will play host to the Toulouse Ours (5-3-1) in the final regular season game in France’s D1 Elite Championship.

This is the second meeting this year between these two teams. The Grizzlys handed Toulouse a 48-13 whipping back in early March.

The Grizzlys sit behind Marseille in Conference B and will play the Saint-Ouen Cougars who have finished third in Conference A in a wild card playoff game on June 18. The Ours playoff hopes are still alive – barely. They need to defeat Catalans today and hope that the Aix en Provence Argonautes lose to the Marseilles Blue Stars.

After dropping their first game of the year to the Argonautes by a score of 49-35, Catalans strung together three straight victories before the 35-28 loss to the Blue Stars. They then went on to beat the Grenoble Centaures 36-7 and Montpellier Hurricanes 48-0 before dropping another game to Marseille, 47-0. Finally, Catalans downed the Argonautes 48-30.

Toulouse enters the game on a two-game winning streak after beating the Grenoble Centaures 42-28 and the Montpellier Hurricanes 41-6. Prior to that, the Ours have had an uneven season. They lost both games to the Blue Stars, 33-0 and 44-2. They beat the Argonautes 20-7 but then tied them 41-41 a week later. They also had another easy win over the Hurricanes, 34-13 and downed the Centaures 10-6 to start the season.

The problem is their losses have been lopsided.

The Grizzlys have been led by a lethal passing attack. Quarterback Jacob Purichia is the second leading passer in France with 2,411 yards and a league-best 31 touchdowns in nine games. Additionally, two of the top three receivers in the league play for Catalans. Idriss Ramky is number one and is having an incredible season, with 63 catches for 957 yards and 11 touchdowns. In third place in receiving yards in the league is Ramky’s teammate Sean Boswell, who has 792 yards and league-leading 14 touchdowns. The Grizzlys’ leading rusher is Onzo Adramann, who has 471 yards and nine touchdowns. Terence Correia has been a standout on defense, as he is third in the league with 53.5 tackles while Zaire Ugapo is third in sacks with eight.

Toulouse quarterback Cameron Valardo, from St. Mary’s University in Canada, has thrown for 1,189 yards and 14 touchdowns with Joshua Rinaldo his main target with 20 catches for 334 yards and six scores. Running back Gerald Childs was a workhorse for the Ours and leads the league with 157 carries for 673 yards.

Linebacker Hugo Groslambert anchors the Ours defense and is the 10th leading tackler in France with 41 but the Toulouse ball-hawking secondary could prove to be a problem for Purichia. Led by Mathieu Pavot and Leo Hernandez who have three picks each, the Ours‘ defensive backs have snagged 14 interceptions so far this year.

With the outcome of the game of no consequence to the Grizzlys but of vital importance to Toulouse, look for an upset.