Castres Olympique

Castres Olympique
Full name Castres Olympique
Founded 1906
Location Castres, France
Ground(s) Stade Pierre-Antoine (Capacity: 11,500)
President Michel Dhomps
Coach(es) Serge Milhas
David Darricarrere
League(s) Top 14
2013–14 6th (playoff finalists)
1st kit
2nd kit
3rd kit
Official website
www.castres-olympique.com

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

Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Stade Pierre-Antoine, which is one of the smallest in Top 14 with a capacity of 11,500. The team wear blue and white kits.

The team won four French top-division championships in 1949, 1950, 1993 and 2013, 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 up 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 up 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 1992-93 French Rugby Union Championship was won by Castres who beat Grenoble 14-11 in the final, but a try of Olivier Brouzet is denied to Grenoble[1] 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. Salles admitted the error 13 years later[2] .[3] .[4]

The club reached the final again in 1995 losing to Toulouse.

Castres won the 2012-13 French Rugby Union Championship beating Toulon 19–14 in the final.[5]

The team's owner, Pierre Fabre, the founder of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre. died on July 20, 2013.[6]

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

Current standings

2014–15 Top 14 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points For Points Against Points Difference Tries For Tries Against Try Bonus Losing Bonus Points
1 Toulon 23 14 0 9 638 465 +173 69 46 6 4 66
2 Clermont 23 13 1 9 542 411 +131 50 35 4 4 62
3 Toulouse 23 14 0 9 472 431 +41 41 31 2 3 61
4 Stade Français 23 13 1 9 528 509 +19 54 47 5 2 61
5 Racing Métro 23 12 2 9 461 441 +20 43 34 2 4 58
6 Oyonnax 23 13 0 10 446 425 +21 31 34 2 3 57
7 Montpellier 23 10 2 11 466 436 +30 37 38 2 5 51
8 Bordeaux 23 10 0 13 615 512 +103 56 40 3 8 51
9 La Rochelle 23 10 3 10 474 580 –106 40 57 2 2 50
10 Brive 23 11 0 12 444 520 −76 35 53 2 2 48
11 Grenoble 23 10 0 13 553 658 –105 48 62 3 5 48
12 Castres 23 10 0 13 446 525 −69 41 52 3 4 47
13 Bayonne 23 9 1 13 441 465 −24 34 36 4 5 47
14 Lyon 23 7 0 16 414 562 −148 38 52 0 7 35

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.
  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 2015–16 European Rugby Champions Cup.
Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup.
Yellow background (row 7) indicates the team that advances to a play-off against the winner of the Pro12 vs Aviva Premiership play-off, or 2014–15 European Rugby Challenge Cup winner if they have not already qualified for the Champions Cup.[7]
Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
Red background (row 13 and 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Updated 26 April 2015

Current squad

For player movements leading up to the 2015–16 season, see List of 2015–16 Top 14 transfers#Castres.

2014-15 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
Mathieu Bonello Hooker France France
Brice Mach Hooker France France
Marc-Antoine Rallier Hooker France France
Ramiro Herrera Prop Argentina Argentina
Mihai Lazăr Prop Romania Romania
Paea Fa'anunu Prop Tonga Tonga
Yannick Forestier Prop France France
Gregory Marmoiton Prop France France
Yohan Montes Prop France France
Saimone Taumoepeau Prop New Zealand New Zealand
Karena Wihongi Prop New Zealand New Zealand
Rodrigo Capo Ortega Lock Uruguay Uruguay
Benjamin Desroches Lock France France
Richie Gray Lock Scotland Scotland
Christophe Samson Lock France France
Jannie Bornman Flanker South Africa South Africa
Yannick Caballero Flanker France France
Ibrahim Diarra Flanker France France
Piula Fa'asalele Flanker Samoa Samoa
William Whetton Number 8 New Zealand New Zealand
Johnnie Beattie Number 8 Scotland Scotland
Player Position Union
Cédric Garcia Scrum-half Spain Spain
Rory Kockott Scrum-half France France
Daniel Kirkpatrick Fly-half New Zealand New Zealand
Rémi Tales Fly-half France France
Romain Cabannes Centre France France
Thomas Combezou Centre France France
Max Evans Centre Scotland Scotland
Rémi Lamerat Centre France France
Marcel Garvey Wing England England
Rémy Grosso Wing France France
Romain Martial Wing France France
Sitiveni Sivivatu Wing New Zealand New Zealand
Julien Dumora Fullback France France
Geoffrey Palis Fullback France France

Notable former players

See also

References

  1. ↑ lacapitale_sto3554485/story.shtml "Combien de fois Bayonne s’est imposé dans la capitale ?". www.rugbyrama.fr. Midi olympique. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Finale Castres-Grenoble 93 : l’insupportable aveu de l’arbitre Salles". rugbyolympic.com. 12 December 2006. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
  3. ↑ "Daniel Salles à propos de Castres-Grenoble en 1993 : " Je me suis trompé "". sudouest. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
  4. ↑ "Parc des Princes, Paris, 5 june 1993". LNR. 28 December 2004. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Castres et " la magie du rugby "". http://www.republicain-lorrain.fr/''. 29 nomvenber 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ "Pierre Fabre, founder of pharmaceutical giant, dies". Agence France Presse (France 24). 2013-07-20. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  7. ↑ "Future of European Rugby resolved" (Press release). RFU. 10 April 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2014.

External links