The defending French champions, the Thonon Black Panthers (1-1) will host the Saint-Ouen Cougars (0-2) in the third weekend of play in the French D1 Elite league Saturday, February 15.
The Black Panthers easily beat Saint-Ouen in both meetings between the two teams in 2024, 42-0 and 46-0.
Thonon opened the season with a tight 6-5 loss to arch rivals, La Courneuve Flash but came back a week later with a 10-8 win over newcomers to the league this year, the Villepinte Diables Rouges. Meanwhile, the Cougars have lost their two opening games dropping a 20-2 decision to the Diables Rouges and then losing 24-21 to the Rouen Leopards.
In fact, the last time the Cougars defeated Thonon was back in 2016, the year that Saint-Ouen won the French title.