Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The France national rugby union team represents the French Rugby Federation in men's international rugby union matches. Colloquially known as Le XV de France, the team traditionally wears blue shirts with a Gallic rooster embroidered on the chest, white shorts and red socks in reference to the French national flag. Les Bleus mostly play home matches at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, near Paris. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship along with England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. France have won the tournament on 26 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 10 times.
The Top 14 is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the France National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Pro D2. The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in the competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16.
Stade Français Paris is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The original Stade Français was founded in 1883. In its current form, the club was founded in 1995 with the merger of the rugby sections of the Stade Français and Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux (CASG).
Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne is a French professional rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two times French champions in 2010 and 2017. The rugby section is a part of a multi-sport club called AS Montferrand, which was founded in 1911 and adopted that name in 1919. Although the rugby section changed its name to the current ASM Clermont Auvergne in 2004, it is still frequently referred to as Montferrand both within and outside France.
The Football Club de Grenoble Rugby (FCG) is a French rugby union club based in Grenoble and founded in 1892.
Felipe Contepomi is an Argentine professional rugby coach who is currently the head coach of the Argentine national side.
Frédéric Michalak is a former French rugby union footballer. His early career was spent playing for his hometown team, Toulouse, in the Top 14 and in the Heineken Cup. He moved to South Africa to play for the Sharks in the Super 14 after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but after just one year with the Sharks he moved back to Toulouse. He has also played over 70 tests for France to date, and is the country's leading Test point scorer, achieving that milestone in 2015. Michalak originally played scrum-half but has played mainly at fly-half. He has appeared in advertisements for companies such as Nike and Levi's.
Rory Lamont is a former rugby union player who played as full-back and on the wing for Glasgow Warriors and Scotland. He prides himself on his versatility. Rory is the younger brother of Sean Lamont.
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard is a multi-purpose stadium in Saint-Étienne, France. It is used primarily for football matches, and tournaments such as the UEFA Euro 1984 and 2016, the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup. It is also used for rugby union, and was a venue at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. It is nicknamed "le Chaudron", or "l'enfer vert", an allusion to the colours worn by the local football team, AS Saint-Étienne, given during the team's heyday when it drew particularly large crowds. More recently, its current capacity was 35,616 before the current renovations, which began in 2011, and temporarily reduced this figure to 26,747. Since the renovations finished, the stadium holds 42,000 seated spectators.
Sergio Francesco Parisse is an Italian former rugby union player. He is currently the lineout coach for French club Toulon. He played for the Italy national team from 2002 until the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Parisse is Italy's most-capped player, and currently the fourth most-capped player of all time. He was the first Italian rugby union player to be nominated for the IRB International Player of the Year, in 2008 and again in 2013. Parisse is widely considered one of the greatest number eights of the modern era, and the greatest Italian rugby player of all time. He also holds the joint record of playing in five Rugby World Cups.
Juan Martín Hernández is an Argentine retired rugby union player. A mainstay of the Argentina national team The Pumas. He played for the club Toulon in the French Top 14 competition. His 2010 move to Racing brought him back to the city where he had begun his professional career in 2003 with Stade Français. He has also played in the South African Currie Cup with the Sharks, and was slated to play with the Sharks in Super Rugby in 2010, but suffered a back injury that knocked him out of the Super Rugby season. Hernández is a "utility back" capable of playing at fly-half, centre, or fullback, though he generally prefers fly-half.
The 2005–06 Top 14 competition was the 107th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) and the 1st using the name Top 14. Previously the league was known as Top 16 but the restructuring of the league at the end of the 2004–05 season meant that it shrank from 16 to 14 clubs. Toulon were the only promoted team having won the 2004–05 Pro D2.
Clément Poitrenaud is a former French rugby union footballer. His usual position is at fullback but he also plays at centre. He most recently played for South African side the Sharks in Super Rugby, having represented Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition between 2000 and 2016, and France between 2001 and 2012, including at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. He has since transitioned into a role of partner, father and coach.
The 2006–07 Top 14 competition was the 108th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) and the 2nd using the name Top 14. Biarritz were out to defend their crown, after their defeat of Toulouse in the 2005–06 Top 14 final. New teams to the league included Albi and Montauban who were promoted from 2004–05 Pro D2, replacing relegated sides Toulon and Pau. During the season attendance records in the league were once again broken with 79,741 attending the Round 19 clash between Stade Français and Toulouse at the Stade de France, and over 2 million supporters attended games across the campaign.
Union Bordeaux Bègles is a French professional rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed the 2010–11 season in the second-level Pro D2. Upon promotion to the Top 14 in 2011, they were assured a place in the European Challenge Cup. In 2015, they earned their European Champions Cup place, after winning the European playoffs against Gloucester Rugby in Worcester.
Lionel Beauxis, born on October 24, 1985, in Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), is a French rugby union player who primarily played as a fly-half.
The 2007–08 Top 14 Competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition, operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Because France hosted the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the competition did not begin at its normal time of August, but instead started on the last weekend in October 2007, one week after the Rugby World Cup final. The league compensated for the late start by playing on several weekends that it normally skips, namely the weekends of the 2008 Six Nations Championship and the semifinals and final of the 2007–08 Heineken Cup. The season ended on June 28, 2008, with Toulouse defeating regular-season league leader Clermont 26–20 in the final and thereby lifting the Bouclier de Brennus.
Maxime Médard is a former French rugby union player who plays his club rugby for French club Stade Toulousain in Top 14 and France internationally. He can play as both a full-back and on the wing and is described by assistant national team coach Émile Ntamack as an "incredible talent" that, during the 2010–11 season, was finally "realizing his potential". Medard is a two-time winner of the Heineken Cup and, in 2008, won the Top 14 for the first time. Also referred to as 'The French Wolverine.'
Jocelino Suta is a French rugby union player who plays as a lock for RC Toulonnais.
