OGC Nice Handball traveled to Toulon for the 8th day of Ligue Butagaz Energie. A derby that smelled of gunpowder between two teams in great difficulty this season.
A lower table derby. This clash between Toulon and Nice already held great importance after just seven days of Ligue Butagaz Energie. On one side TMV was coming out of a very difficult 2025-2026 campaign that continued into this new season. On the other hand, OGC Nice Handball, strengthened by its European Cup qualification last season, intended to play a leading role in the championship. While everything had started well at the opening of the season, what followed was much more complicated. Proof of this, the Eagles were on four consecutive defeats since their home victory against Larvik. The momentum was slightly better for the Varoises after a fine victory against Plan-de-Cuques last week.
This would prove true from the start of the match for the Eagles. Not successful in shooting against a well-positioned Toulon defense, failures followed one another and the score grew very quickly at the same time. The Varoises quickly took a five-goal lead. A perilous situation that Manon Gravelle and Ehsan Abdelmalek (five goals each) came to restore by stringing together beautiful offensive plays. Frustrated at the start of the match, Sébastien Mizoule managed to reorganize his back line to contain the assaults of the home side. Effective coaching as the Varoises remained silent for eight minutes thanks to three successive saves by Cécilia Errin. As a result, the Nice team found themselves only down by a single point 8-7 before managing to equalize a few minutes later.
A state of grace dissipated by another good sequence from TMV despite being numerically inferior following a somewhat overly vehement remark from their coach Rémi Faugères. Proof of the great fragility of both teams and the already crucial stakes of this match.
Imprecisions that cost dearly for OGC Nice Handball
After a fairly disjointed first half, it was Toulon who returned to the court with a one-goal lead 14-13 against Nice players who showed good fighting spirit. At the restart it was ultimately the Azure team who went ahead for the first time in a completely relaunched match. Underutilized, captain Marine Dupuis finally opened her account on a seven-meter throw.
As in the first half success shifted from one side to the other as the minutes ticked by, giving slim advantages to one team then the other. Until the scenario of the first half repeated itself to the detriment of the Eagles. Down by five goals again, OGC Nice Handball once again relied on the talent of their goalkeeper Cécilia Errin at nearly 35% saves this evening. Except that across from her in goal, Andrea Novellan, was not lagging behind with no less than 33% of shots stopped. Nice tried to stop the ball carriers by employing a staggered defense. Without success. The teammates of Marie Fall (4 goals) paid for their too many imprecisions preventing any chance of a comeback in this match. Harmed by Daphné Gautschi (7 goals) in the second half, OGC Nice Handball logically fell again (34-26).
A reaction seems already imperative as early as this Wednesday at 8 p.m. with the reception of Paris 92.
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