Castres Olympique

Castres Olympique
Full name	Castres Olympique
Founded	1906; 119 years ago
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
1st kit	2nd kit
Official website
	castres-olympique.com

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.

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.

In 1993, Castres played 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 enemies 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

French championship Top 14
- Champions (5): 1949, 1950, 1993, 2013, 2018
- Runners-up (3): 1995, 2014, 2022
European Rugby Challenge Cup
- Runners-up (2): 1997, 2000
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

French championship

Date	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

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
26 January 1997	Bourgoin	18–9	Castres Olympique	Stade de la Méditerranée, Béziers	10,000
28 May 2000	Section Paloise	34–21	Castres Olympique	Stade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse	6,000

European Shield

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
25 May 2003	Castres Olympique	40–12	Caerphilly	Madejski Stadium, Reading	4,000

Current standings

2024–25 Top 14 Table
Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Toulouse	13	9	1	3	385	211	+174	48	24	5	3	46	Qualification for playoff semi-finals and European Rugby Champions Cup
2	Bordeaux Bègles	13	10	0	3	384	264	+120	50	34	3	2	45
3	Toulon	13	8	0	5	327	279	+48	37	30	3	3	38	Qualification for playoff semi-final qualifiers and European Rugby Champions Cup
4	Bayonne	13	9	0	4	345	306	+39	39	39	1	1	38
5	Clermont	13	7	0	6	331	319	+12	43	34	4	2	34
6	La Rochelle	13	7	0	6	300	293	+7	37	31	3	1	32
7	Montpellier	13	6	0	7	270	241	+29	24	24	1	4	29	Qualification for European Rugby Champions Cup
8	Castres	13	6	0	7	324	363	−39	37	39	1	2	27	Qualification for European Rugby Champions Cup
9	Racing 92	13	5	1	7	321	335	−14	36	36	0	4	26	Qualification for European Rugby Challenge Cup
10	Pau	13	5	0	8	304	369	−65	35	48	3	1	24
11	Stade Français	13	5	0	8	285	342	−57	32	42	2	1	23
12	Perpignan	13	5	0	8	228	322	−94	21	35	2	1	23
13	Lyon	13	4	2	7	324	362	−38	36	40	1	1	22	Qualification for relegation play-off
14	Vannes	13	3	0	10	323	445	−122	38	57	0	3	15	Relegation to Pro D2

Updated to match(es) played on 29 December 2024. Source: Top 14

Current squad

The Castres squad for the 2024–25 season is:^[11]^[12]

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Gaëtan Barlot	Hooker	France
Pierre Colonna	Hooker	France
Loris Zarantonello	Hooker	Italy
Aurélien Azar	Prop	France
Wayan de Benedittis	Prop	France
Levan Chilachava	Prop	Georgia
Will Collier	Prop	England
Nicolas Corato	Prop	France
Lois Guérois-Galisson	Prop	France
Antoine Tichit	Prop	France
Quentin Walcker	Prop	France
Guillaume Ducat	Lock	France
Paul Jedrasiak	Lock	France
Gauthier Maravat	Lock	France
Leone Nakarawa	Lock	Fiji
Tom Staniforth	Lock	Australia
Florent Vanverberghe	Lock	France
Tyler Ardron	Back row	Canada
Mathieu Babillot	Back row	France
Baptiste Cope	Back row	France
Baptiste Delaporte	Back row	France
Simon Meka	Back row	France
Izaiha Moore-Aiono	Back row	Samoa
Abraham Papali'i	Back row	New Zealand
Yann Peysson	Back row	France
Feibyan Tukino	Back row	France

Player	Position	Union
Santiago Arata	Scrum-half	Uruguay
Gauthier Doubrère	Scrum-half	France
Jérémy Fernandez	Scrum-half	France
Louis Le Brun	Fly-half	France
Pierre Popelin	Fly-half	France
Vilimoni Botitu	Centre	Fiji
Adrea Cocagi	Centre	Fiji
Joris Dupont	Centre	France
Jack Goodhue	Centre	New Zealand
Adrien Séguret	Centre	France
Christian Ambadiang	Wing	Cameroon
Rémy Baget	Wing	France
Josaia Raisuqe	Wing	Fiji
Nathanaël Hulleu	Wing	France
Antoine Zeghdar	Wing	France
Julien Dumora	Fullback	France
Théo Chabouni	Fullback	France
Geoffrey Palis	Fullback	France

Espoirs squad