Dijon beat Istres 36:25 in the ProLigue on 16 October 2026. The home side stretched their advantage at fourth place while the visitors sank further into trouble at the bottom of the table. By then Dijon had already built a seven-point cushion over Istres and made it eight with this win.
The hosts were coming off a 32:19 victory over Besançon on 9 October and carried that momentum into the encounter. Istres, meanwhile, had lost five of their last six matches and were struggling to find any rhythm. And here's the thing — the gap in form was obvious from the opening exchanges.
Our forecast had tipped Istres for a 61 per cent chance of victory, but the match didn't go that way. Dijon's home advantage and recent winning streak simply outweighed whatever we thought the visitors might bring. To be fair, Istres have only one win all season and that record told its own story.
The statistics back up what the scoreboard showed. Dijon's eight points from six games put them comfortably in the upper half, while Istres sat on just two points with five defeats already. The goal difference tells the same tale — Dijon had been scoring freely while Istres were conceding more than they managed to find.
Looking at the recent results, Dijon's three straight wins before this match included victories over both Ivry and Creteil. Istres had lost to Cherbourg and Billaure in their previous outings and couldn't reverse that pattern. The visitors camped in their own half far too often and paid for it.
This result keeps Dijon in contention for a higher finish while Istres face an increasingly difficult run-in. The hosts now have eight points from six games and are pushing toward the top four. For Istres, the question is whether they can salvage anything from the remaining fixtures.
