Castres Olympique

Castres Olympique (French pronunciation: ​[kastʁ ɔlɛ̃pik]) is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system.

Castres Olympique
Full nameCastres Olympique
Founded1906 (1906)
LocationCastres, France
Ground(s)Stade Pierre-Fabre (Capacity: 12,500)
PresidentPierre-Yves Revol
Coach(es)Mauricio Reggiardo
Captain(s)Mathieu Babillot
League(s)Top 14
2019–209th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.castres-olympique.com

Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Stade Pierre-Fabre, which is one of the smallest in Top 14 with a capacity of 12,500. The team wear blue and white kits.

The team won five French top-division championships in 1949, 1950, 1993 (in a match decided by an irregular try accorded by the referee),[1] 2013, and 2018 as well as one Coupe de France in 1948.

History

In 1898 several alumni of Castres' municipal college met in a city centre bar and decided to create a team allowing them to play their favourite sport, rugby union. For the first few years this team was part of a multisport club until 1906. Unhappy with the dominating position cycling had within the club, the members of the rugby section decided to leave and create a club of their own, solely dedicated to their sport. It was decided that this club would be named Castres Olympique and its colours would be changed from yellow and black to its current blue, white and grey.

The new club reached the top flight after only 15 years of existence and has remained there ever since, bar for a couple of years during the 80s when the club was in the then Section B of the 1st division. The club has never left the 1st division since 1921.

For a while Castres Olympique would experience mixed fortunes until 1948 when they reached and won their first Coupe de France. The prestigious championship would follow a year later, and again in 1950.

From the 1960s the club would experience a stream of mediocre seasons and steady decline until Pierre Fabre, the founder of a local pharmaceutical company, decided to take over the club and restore it to its former relative glory in 1988.

The 1993 French Rugby Union Championship was won by Castres who beat Grenoble 14–11 in controversial final. Indeed a try of Olivier Brouzet is denied to Grenoble[2] and the decisive try by Gary Whetton was awarded by the referee, Daniel Salles, when in fact the defender Franck Hueber from Grenoble touched down the ball first in his try zone. This error gave the title to Castres.[3] Salles admitted the error 13 years later[4] .[5] Jacques Fouroux conflict with the Federation and who was already suspicious before the match of the referee[6] cry out conspiracy.[7]

The club reached the final again in 1995 losing 31–16 to Stade Toulousain.

Castres won the 2012–13 French Rugby Union Championship beating Toulon 19–14 in the final.[8]

The team's owner, Pierre Fabre, the founder of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre. died on 20 July 2013.[9] Castres' home stadium, previously known as Stade Pierre-Antoine, was renamed in his memory during ceremonies in conjunction with Castres' match with Montpellier on 9 September 2017.[10]

Castres won the 2017–18 French Rugby Union Championship beating Montpellier 29–13 in the final.

Honours

Finals results

French championship
Date Winners Runners-up Score Venue Spectators
22 May 1949 Castres Olympique Stade Montois 14-3 1 Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse 23,000
16 April 1950 Castres Olympique Racing Club de France 11-8 Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse 25,000
5 June 1993 Castres Olympique FC Grenoble 14-11 Parc des Princes, Paris 48,000
6 May 1995 Stade Toulousain Castres Olympique 31-16 Parc des Princes, Paris 48,615
1 June 2013 Castres Olympique RC Toulon 19-14 Stade de France, Saint-Denis 80,033
31 May 2014 RC Toulon Castres Olympique 18-10 Stade de France, Saint-Denis 80,174
2 June 2018 Castres Olympique Montpellier 29-13 Stade de France, Saint-Denis 78,441

Current standings
2020–21 Top 14 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Diff. Tries For Tries Against Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1La Rochelle12903322210+11230162139
2Toulouse12813365272+9342263138
3Racing11803303212+9133163237
4Toulon11704284218+6627164133
5Lyon10613240184+5623191229
6Stade Français11605292228+6426192329
7Clermont10604291221+7033243128
8Bordeaux Bègles11506283259+2429222224
9Brive12507236302–6615350222
10Pau12417276311–3522300321
11Bayonne11506245352–10723450121
12Montpellier9306205200+518142317
13Castres10316179275–9615240216
14Agen120012152429–2771449022

If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:

  1. Competition points earned in head-to-head matches
  2. Points difference in head-to-head matches
  3. Try differential in head-to-head matches
  4. Points difference in all matches
  5. Try differential in all matches
  6. Points scored in all matches
  7. Tries scored in all matches
  8. Fewer matches forfeited
  9. Classification in the previous Top 14 season
Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.
Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the Relegation play-offs.
Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to Rugby Pro D2.
Final table — source:

Current squad
For player movements before or during the 2020–21 season, see List of 2020–21 Top 14 transfers § Castres.

The Castres squad for the 2020–21 season is:[11]

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Gaëtan Barlot Hooker France
Kévin Firmin Hooker France
Marc-Antoine Rallier Hooker France
Wayan De Benditis Prop France
Wilfrid Hounkpatin Prop France
Daniel Kötze Prop France
Julius Nostadt Prop Germany
Tudor Stroë Prop France
Antoine Tichit Prop France
Matt Tierney Prop Canada
Loïc Jacquet Lock France
Hans N'Kinsi Lock France
Tyler Ardron Lock Canada
Florent Vanverberghe Lock France
Ryno Pieterse Lock South Africa
Tom Staniforth Lock Australia
Mathieu Babillot Back row France
Baptiste Delaporte Back row France
Anthony Jelonch Back row France
Kevin Kornath Back row France
Stéphane Onambélé Back row France
Maama Vaipulu Back row Tonga
Player Position Union
Santiago Arata Scrum-half Uruguay
Jérémy Fernandez Scrum-half France
Rory Kockott Scrum-half France
Thomas Fortunel Fly-half France
Benjamín Urdapilleta Fly-half Argentina
Vilimoni Botitu Centre Fiji
Adrea Cocagi Centre Fiji
Thomas Combezou Centre France
Yann David Centre France
Florian Vialelle Centre France
Armand Batlle Wing France
Bastien Guillemin Wing France
Martin Laveau Wing France
Filipo Nakosi Wing Fiji
Julien Dumora Fullback France
Geoffrey Palis Fullback France

Notable former players

See also

References
  1. "Gerry Thornley: Grenoble's Jackman fast becoming one of top Irish coaches". irishtimes. April 12, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  2. "Combien de fois Bayonne s'est imposé dans la capitale ?". www.rugbyrama.fr. Midi olympique. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  3. "MICHEL RINGEVAL (PART 2): " AU BOUT D'UN QUART D'HEURE, J'AI COMPRIS QU'ON NE GAGNERAIT PAS"". lesportdauphinois.com. November 19, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  4. "Daniel Salles à propos de Castres-Grenoble en 1993 : " Je me suis trompé "". sudouest. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  5. "Parc des Princes, Paris, 5 Juin 1993". LNR. 28 December 2004. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  6. Salviac, Pierre (9 September 2015). Merci pour ces moments: 50 ans de grands reportages. books.google.fr. ISBN 9791093463247. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  7. "Top 14: Toulon-Castres, souviens-toi, il y a vingt ans..." www.lepoint.fr. June 1, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  8. "Castres et " la magie du rugby "". www.republicain-lorrain.fr. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  9. "Pierre Fabre, founder of pharmaceutical giant, dies". Agence France Presse. France 24. 2013-07-20. Archived from the original on 2013-07-23. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  10. "Castres : ce sera le Stade Pierre-Fabre" [Castres: it will be Stade Pierre-Fabre]. La Dépêche. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
  11. "Effectifs". Castres Olympique (in French). Retrieved 6 September 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.