Castres Olympique (French pronunciation: [kastʁ ɔlɛ̃pik], CAST-(r)) 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.
Full name | Castres Olympique | ||
---|---|---|---|
Founded | 1906 | ||
Location | Castres, France | ||
Ground(s) | Stade Pierre-Fabre (Capacity: 12,500) | ||
President | Pierre-Yves Revol | ||
Coach(es) | Jeremy Davidson | ||
Captain(s) | Mathieu Babillot | ||
League(s) | Top 14 | ||
2023–24 | 7th | ||
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Official website | |||
castres-olympique |
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
editIn 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.
In 1993, Castres play the final of the 1993 French Rugby Union Championship against Grenoble, a team who was nicknamed "the mammoths", because of its incredibly physical forward pack, coached by the former french national team manager Jacques Fouroux.
Castres won its third national title 14–11, in a controversial match.
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, being already suspicious before the match of the referee, saw in this outcome a conspiracy of his ennemies from inside the rugby union french Federation [6] [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.
After finishing first in the 2021-2022 Top 14, Castres played a semi-final against the Stade Toulousain of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, beating them 24-18. The final is a rematch of 2018, but this time, Montpellier win 29-10.
Honours
edit- French championship Top 14
- European Rugby Challenge Cup
- European Shield
- Champions (1): 2003
- French Cup
- Champions (1): 1948
- Challenge Yves du Manoir
- Runners-up (1): 1993
- Group B French Champions
- Champions (1): 1989
Finals results
editFrench championship
editDate | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Spectators |
22 May 1949 | Castres Olympique | 14–3 | Stade Montois | Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse | 23,000 |
16 April 1950 | Castres Olympique | 11–8 | Racing Club de France | Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse | 25,000 |
5 June 1993 | Castres Olympique | 14–11 | FC Grenoble | Parc des Princes, Paris | 48,000 |
6 May 1995 | Stade Toulousain | 31–16 | Castres Olympique | Parc des Princes, Paris | 48,615 |
1 June 2013 | Castres Olympique | 19–14 | RC Toulon | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 80,033 |
31 May 2014 | RC Toulon | 18–10 | Castres Olympique | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 80,174 |
2 June 2018 | Castres Olympique | 29–13 | Montpellier | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 78,441 |
24 June 2022 | Montpellier | 29–10 | Castres Olympique | Stade de France, Saint-Denis | 78,245 |
European Rugby Challenge Cup
editDate | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Spectators |
26 January 1997 | 18–9 | Stade de la Méditerranée, Béziers | 10,000 | ||
28 May 2000 | 34–21 | Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse | 6,000 |
European Shield
editDate | Winners | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Spectators |
25 May 2003 | 40–12 | Madejski Stadium, Reading | 4,000 |
Current standings
editPos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | TB | LB | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Toulouse (Q) | 26 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 765 | 592 | +173 | 103 | 72 | 7 | 3 | 76 | Playoffs and Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup |
2 | Stade Français (Q) | 26 | 17 | 1 | 8 | 539 | 511 | +28 | 57 | 49 | 4 | 1 | 75 | |
3 | Bordeaux Bègles (Q) | 26 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 677 | 558 | +119 | 80 | 66 | 5 | 4 | 69 | |
4 | Toulon (Q) | 26 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 704 | 519 | +185 | 72 | 58 | 5 | 4 | 69 | |
5 | La Rochelle (Q) | 26 | 13 | 1 | 12 | 595 | 496 | +99 | 69 | 49 | 5 | 7 | 66 | |
6 | Racing 92 (Q) | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 622 | 546 | +76 | 79 | 56 | 5 | 5 | 62 | |
7 | Castres | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 643 | 642 | +1 | 69 | 77 | 4 | 6 | 62 | Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup |
8 | Clermont | 26 | 12 | 2 | 12 | 621 | 671 | −50 | 74 | 78 | 6 | 3 | 61 | |
9 | Pau | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 630 | 609 | +21 | 68 | 72 | 3 | 5 | 60 | Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Challenge Cup |
10 | Perpignan | 26 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 634 | 701 | −67 | 80 | 85 | 5 | 1 | 58 | |
11 | Lyon | 26 | 12 | 0 | 14 | 630 | 754 | −124 | 72 | 90 | 5 | 2 | 55 | |
12 | Bayonne | 26 | 11 | 0 | 15 | 572 | 669 | −97 | 65 | 77 | 2 | 6 | 52 | |
13 | Montpellier (Q) | 26 | 9 | 0 | 17 | 542 | 655 | −113 | 61 | 79 | 1 | 7 | 44 | Qualification for Relegation play-off |
14 | Oyonnax (R) | 26 | 7 | 1 | 18 | 539 | 790 | −251 | 58 | 99 | 0 | 4 | 34 | Relegation to Pro D2 |
(Q) Qualified for the playoffs; (R) Relegated
Current squad
editThe Castres squad for the 2023–24 season is:[11][12]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
Espoirs squad
editNote: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
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Notable former players
editThis list of "famous" or "notable" people has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help improve this article by defining clear inclusion criteria to contain only subjects that fit those criteria. (June 2012) |
Horacio Agulla
Rafael Carballo
Ignacio Fernández Lobbe
Santiago González Bonorino
Ramiro Herrera
Mario Ledesma
José María Núñez Piossek
Mauricio Reggiardo
Michael Cheika
Taylor Paris
Martin Kafka
Phil Christophers
Marcel Garvey
Paul Volley
Seremaia Bai
Semi Kunatani
Alexandre Albouy
Marc Andreu
Grégory Arganese
Éric Artiguste
David Attoub
Yoan Audrin
Frédéric Banquet
Mathieu Barrau
Armand Batlle
Pierre Bérard
Pierre Bernard
Didier Bès
Alexandre Bias
Mathieu Bonello
Paul Bonnefond
David Bory
Mathieu Bourret
René Bousquet
Marcel Burgun
Yannick Caballero
Alain Carminati
Romain Cabannes
Thomas Castaignède
Frédéric Cermeno
Albert Cigagna
Gerard Cholley
Antonie Claassen
René Coll
Arnaud Costes
Michel Courtiols
Yann David
Yann Delaigue
Ibrahim Diarra
Richard Dourthe
Luc Ducalcon
Brice Dulin
Antoine Dupont
Florian Faure
Yannick Forestier
Romain Froment
Alessio Galasso
Camille Gérondeau
Karim Ghezal
Rémy Grosso
Raphaël Ibañez
Vincent Inigo
Anthony Jelonch
Benjamin Kayser
Daniel Kötze
Laurent Labit
Thierry Lacrampe
Thierry Lacroix
Pierre-Gilles Lakafia
Remi Lamerat
Benjamin Lapeyre
Thibault Lassalle
Christophe Laussucq
Romain Martial
Jean Matheu
Lionel Mazars
Ugo Mola
Yohan Montès
Lionel Nallet
Mathieu Nicolas
Pascal Papé
Jean-Baptiste Peyras-Loustalet
Lucas Pointud
Julien Puricelli
Ludovic Radosavljevic
Marc-Antoine Rallier
Nicolas Raffault
Matthias Rolland
David Roumieu
Christophe Samson
Olivier Sarraméa
Maurice Siman
Nicolas Spanghero
Scott Spedding
Patrick Tabacco
Rémi Talès
Guilaume Taussac
Romain Teulet
Sébastien Tillous-Borde
Julien Tomas
Christophe Urios
Akvsenti Giorgadze
Paliko Jimsheladze
Anton Peikrishvili
Tim Barker
Jeremy Davidson
Justin Fitzpatrick
Pablo Canavosio
Ramiro Pez
Fabio Staibano
Cristian Stoica
Ismaila Lassissi
Djalil Narjissi
Kees Lensing
Norm Berryman
Frank Bunce
Brad Fleming
Carl Hoeft
Daniel Kirkpatrick
Chris Masoe
Cameron McIntyre
Kees Meeuws
Kevin Senio
Sitiveni Sivivatu
Gary Whetton
Karena Wihongi
Rudi Wulf
Jannie Bornman
Robert Ebersohn
Darron Nell
Pedrie Wannenburg
Dragoș Dima
Adrian Lungu
Mihai Lazăr
Alexandru Manta
Kirill Kulemin
Piula Faʻasalele
Laloa Milford
Joe Tekori
Freddie Tuilagi
Romi Ropati
Max Evans
Richie Gray
Glenn Metcalfe
Gregor Townsend
José Díaz
Cedric Garcia
Pierre-Emmanuel Garcia
Rodrigo Capó Ortega
Salesi Sika
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Gerry Thornley: Grenoble's Jackman fast becoming one of top Irish coaches". irishtimes. April 12, 2016. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ "Combien de fois Bayonne s'est imposé dans la capitale ?". www.rugbyrama.fr. Midi olympique. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
- ^ "MICHEL RINGEVAL (PART 2): " AU BOUT D'UN QUART D'HEURE, J'AI COMPRIS QU'ON NE GAGNERAIT PAS"". lesportdauphinois.com. November 19, 2016. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ "Daniel Salles à propos de Castres-Grenoble en 1993 : " Je me suis trompé "". sudouest. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
- ^ "Parc des Princes, Paris, 5 Juin 1993". LNR. 28 December 2004. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
- ^ Salviac, Pierre (9 September 2015). Merci pour ces moments: 50 ans de grands reportages. Hachette Book. ISBN 9791093463247. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ "Top 14: Toulon-Castres, souviens-toi, il y a vingt ans..." www.lepoint.fr. June 1, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
- ^ "Castres et " la magie du rugby "". www.republicain-lorrain.fr. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Castres : ce sera le Stade Pierre-Fabre" [Castres: it will be Stade Pierre-Fabre]. La Dépêche. 12 August 2017. Retrieved 25 November 2017.
- ^ "Effectif" (in French). Castres Olympique. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ "Castres squad for season 2023/2024". All Rugby. 7 December 2023. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
External links
edit- (in French) Official website