RC Toulonnais

Rugby Club Toulonnais was founded on 3 June 1908 as a merger of Étoile Sportive Varoise and members of the Stade Varois, a club based in nearby La Seyne-sur-Mer. It took the club 23 years to reach the top of French rugby, when they won the 1931 championship against Lyon Olympique Universitaire (6–3, 2 tries to 1). The players were greeted by 30,000 people when they returned from Bordeaux, where the final had been held.

Toulon remained one of the top French clubs, but they lost four consecutive finals scattered over 35 years (1948, 1968, 1971 and 1985). The 1985 extra-time defeat by Stade Toulousain left them with many regrets, and playing in the most spectacular final ever (36–22) did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing. The Red and Black only waited two more years to finally lay their hands on the Bouclier de Brennus, as they defeated Racing at the Parc des Princes. The third title came in 1992, against Biarritz Olympique, in Serge Blanco's last match and last chance to win the title.

For eight years, Toulon were not particularly successful and were in heavy financial trouble (a 10 million franc deficit) forced the Ligue Nationale de Rugby to demote them to the Second Division in July 2000. The club missed an immediate return the next year, going down in the final to Montauban, as only one club was promoted that year. It took them five more years to do so as RCT went on to win the Pro D2 title. Unfortunately, despite immense popular support (gates averaged more than 12,000), and much enthusiasm, they only managed to win three games out of 26 and were relegated after only a season.

A new president, Mourad Boudjellal, a born-and-bred Toulonnais who made his fortune in the comic strip business, promised to build a huge team. He said: "I invented the Top 15, with a team that could be competitive in the Top 14".[1] He signed a high number of first-class players, some of them well above 30, like Jean-Jacques Crenca, Yann Delaigue, Gonzalo Quesada and Dan Luger. He created buzz around the team as he managed to sign former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga, who arrived in Toulon right after the end of the Air New Zealand Cup on 26 October 2006. The contract was rumoured to be around €300,000 (£200,000), which Boudjellal claimed to pay from his own pocket, for only eight to ten matches. In a 2010 interview, Boudjellal would say about his decision to pursue Umaga, "It was incredible, because we were in the second division and I was speaking with the best player in the world. But he said yes and came to play with Toulon."[2]

Boudjellal continued to sign high-profile veteran players, including Australia captain and former all-time international caps leader George Gregan, reportedly paid €400,000 out of Boudjellal's pocket,[3] All Blacks' former all-time scoring leader Andrew Mehrtens,[4][5] and Jonny Wilkinson.

Back in Pro D2 for the 2006–07 season, Toulon finish fourth in the league, putting them in the promotion playoffs for a place in the Top 14, but they lost in the promotion semi-finals 21–17 at La Rochelle. The following season Toulon headed the table from early on, never dropping from the top spot on their way to clinching promotion with two rounds to spare. The 2008–09 season proved to be one of consolidation. Umaga had been handed the coaching reins, but as Boudjellal would later say, "The first season in the Top 14 was very difficult and I learned that Tana Umaga was not yet ready to give up playing – and that he's not a manager."[2] The team managed to survive that season, using a late-season surge to avoid a relegation scare. Toulon had a much more successful 2009–10 campaign, with Wilkinson leading the charge. He would be named the top fly-half of the year in France by leading rugby publication Midi Olympique,[6] and would also be recalled to the England national team. Domestically, Toulon finished second on the league table, losing out to Perpignan for the top spot on a tiebreaker. This finish gave them a spot in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and also a first-round bye in that season's Top 14 playoffs. Toulon's domestic campaign ended in the semi-finals with a 35–29 extra-time loss to eventual champion Clermont in Saint-Étienne.

Toulon's Amlin Challenge Cup campaign proved even more successful. They finished top of their pool and advanced to the knockout stage, crushing Scarlets 38–12 in the quarterfinals at Stade Mayol and surviving a hard-fought match against Connacht in Galway 19–12. The win over Connacht meant that Toulon would get their preferred final venue of the Vélodrome on 23 May, where they lost to the Cardiff Blues 28–21, missing out on silverware for the season.

In May 2013 Toulon won the 2013 Heineken Cup Final by 16–15 against Clermont Auvergne.[7]

On the day of his arrival in Paris, on 1 May 1895, just before his first concert, Félix Mayol was met by a female friend at the station, who gave him some lily-of-the-valley, a flower people traditionally exchange on 1 May in France. He pinned it on his lapel, his concert was a success and Mayol, who was superstitious, made the lily-of-the-valley his personal emblem. It was taken up by the rugby club in 1921.

In 1920, its stadium was inaugurated. It is named after Félix Mayol, a very popular concert hall singer from Toulon who had succeeded in Paris in the early 20th century. Shortly after World War I, he purchased what would be the stadium site and donated it to the club. It is one of the few French stadiums to be almost completely surrounded by the city and overlooks the Toulon bay and military harbour in the Mediterranean.

• Heineken Cup/European Rugby Champions Cup
  • Champions (3): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
• Top 14
  • Champions (4): 1930–31, 1986–87, 1991–92, 2013–14
  • Runners-up (9): 1947–48, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1984–85, 1988–89, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2016–17
• Challenge Yves du Manoir
  • Champions (2): 1934, 1970
  • Runners-up (3): 1939, 1954, 1983
• Rugby Pro D2
  • Champions (2): 2004–05, 2007–08
  • Runners-up (1): 2000–01
• European Challenge Cup
  • Runners-up (3): 2009–10, 2011–12, 2019–20

The Toulon squad for the 2020–21 season is:[8]

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 Anthony Étrillard Hooker France Bastien Soury Hooker France Christopher Tolofua Hooker France Jeremy Boyadjis Prop France Bruce Devaux Prop France Florian Fresia Prop France Beka Gigashvili Prop Georgia Jean-Baptiste Gros Prop France Emerick Setiano Prop France Sébastien Taofifénua Prop France Brian Alainu'uese Lock Samoa Eben Etzebeth Lock South Africa Thomas Jolmes Lock France Swan Rebbadj Lock France Romain Taofifénua Lock France Thomas Hoarou Back row France Facundo Isa Back row Argentina Raphaël Lakafia Back row France Charles Ollivon Back row France Julien Ory Back row France Sergio Parisse Back row Italy

Player Position Union Anthony Méric Scrum-half France Sonatane Takulua Scrum-half Tonga Baptiste Serin Scrum-half France Anthony Belleau Fly-half France Louis Carbonel Fly-half France Theo Dachary Centre France Julien Hériteau Centre France Maa Nonu Centre New Zealand Duncan Paia'aua Centre Australia Isaia Toeava Centre New Zealand Masivesi Dakuwaqa Wing Fiji Erwan Dridi Wing France Bryce Heem Wing New Zealand Daniel Ikpefan Wing France Simon Moretti Wing France Gabin Villière Wing France Gervais Cordin Fullback France Ramiro Moyano Fullback Argentina

Under LNR rules, teams are limited to two players of non-EU nationality on their domestic match-day rosters. However, a large number of players whose primary nationality is outside the EU are exempt from this quota for various reasons.

• The largest non-EU source of quota-exempt players are the ACP countries, due to the Kolpak ruling. In the context of rugby, the most important ACP countries are South Africa, Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga.
• Georgian players also qualifies for the Kolpak exemption because Georgia has a similar relationship with the EU through the European Neighbourhood Policy.

This is a list of former players in alphabetical order showing nationality and the period played for the club.

• List of rugby union clubs in France
• Rugby union in France

• (in French) RC Toulonnais Official website