Lyon OU Rugby
Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 2016–17 season after winning the 2015–16 title of the second-level Pro D2. The club has bounced between the top two levels in recent years, having also been promoted in 2011 and 2014 and relegated in 2012 and 2015.
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| Full name | Lyon Olympique Universitaire | ||
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| Nickname(s) | Le LOU | ||
| Founded | 1896 | ||
| Location | Lyon, France | ||
| Ground(s) | Stade de Gerland (Capacity: 25,000) | ||
| Chairman | GL Events | ||
| President | Yann Roubert | ||
| Coach(es) | Fabien Gengenbacher | ||
| Captain(s) | Baptiste Couilloud Jordan Taufua | ||
| League(s) | Top 14 | ||
| 2022–23 | 3rd | ||
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| Official website | |||
| www | |||
They were founded in 1896 and play in red and black. In 2011, the team left the Stade Vuillermet to the new Matmut Stadium. In 2017 the team moved to the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.
History
Le LOU, as it is traditionally known, is one of the oldest sports clubs in France and among the first outside Paris to have set up a rugby section. The club’s original name was Racing Club, the result of a merger of the Racing Club de Vaise and the Rugby Club de Lyon. It was renamed Racing et Cercles Réunis in 1902 after several other clubs joined it, then a few months later Lyon Olympique. Finally, in 1910, it became Lyon Olympique Universitaire. The red and black were adopted in 1902.
The club developed several sections (it now has 13), one of the most successful being the rugby union section, which is now known as LOU Rugby. The rugby club took part in three successive French championship finals (1931–33), losing the first one to Toulon (3-6) but winning the next two against Narbonne (9-3 and 10-3). It then played in lower amateur leagues until it was promoted back to the second professional division (Pro D2). In 2006-07, it had the second biggest budget of the championship and its ambition was to rejoin the Top 14 in the next two years, under the leadership of their coach Christian Lanta, who formerly led Racing Club de France, Italian club Treviso and Agen. However, they would not succeed in their promotion quest until 2011. Since then, they have been a proverbial "yo-yo team", having been either relegated or promoted four times in the six seasons since their 2011 promotion.
Honours
- Challenge Cup:
- Champions: 2022
- Champion de France:
- Champions: 1932, 1933
- Runners-up: 1931
- Rugby Pro D2:
- Challenge Yves du Manoir:
- Champions: 1933
- Fédérale 1:
- Champions: 2002
- Deuxième Division:
- Champions: 1989, 1992
Juniors: 2012 Cadets: 1984,2017
Finals results
French championship
| Date | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Venue | Spectators |
| 10 May 1931 | RC Toulon | Lyon OU | 6-3 | Parc Lescure, Bordeaux | 10,000 |
| 5 May 1932 | Lyon OU | RC Narbonne | 9-3 | Parc Lescure, Bordeaux | 13,000 |
| 7 May 1933 | Lyon OU | RC Narbonne | 10-3 | Parc Lescure, Bordeaux | 15,000 |
Challenge Yves du Manoir
| Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
| 1932 | SU Agen | round robin | Lyon OU |
| 1933 | Lyon OU | round robin | SU Agen |
European Challenge Cup Finals
| Date | Winner | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Spectators |
| 27 May 2022 | Lyon | 30–12 | Toulon | Stade Vélodrome, Marseille | 51,431 |
Current standings
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Diff. | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stade Français | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 34 | +47 | 1 | 0 | 13 | |||||
| 2 | Pau | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 82 | 51 | +31 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||
| 3 | Castres | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 84 | 48 | +36 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||
| 4 | Racing | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 99 | 47 | +52 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||
| 5 | Toulouse | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 72 | 60 | +12 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |||||
| 6 | Clermont | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 66 | 60 | +6 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |||||
| 7 | Bordeaux Bègles | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 65 | 63 | +2 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |||||
| 8 | Lyon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 90 | –39 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |||||
| 9 | La Rochelle | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 60 | 51 | +9 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |||||
| 10 | Toulon | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 51 | 63 | –12 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |||||
| 11 | Bayonne | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 40 | 63 | –23 | 0 | 1 | 5 | |||||
| 12 | Oyonnax | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 75 | 72 | +3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||||
| 13 | Montpellier | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 48 | 77 | –29 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |||||
| 14 | Perpignan | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 126 | –95 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
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If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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| Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2024–25 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Pink background (row 13) will be contest a play-off with the runners-up of the 2023–24 Rugby Pro D2 season for a place in the 2024–25 Top 14 season. Red background (row 14) will be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Updated: 2 September 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
Current squad
The Lyon squad for the 2022–23 season is:[1]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
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Espoirs squad
The Lyon OU Espoirs squad is:[2]
Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.
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References
- "PRO TEAM". LOU Rugby (in French). Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- "Equipe & Staff". Lyon OU. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
External links
- (in French) Lyon OU Official website
- LOU Omnisports Sportsclub