RC Narbonne

Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée
Full name	Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée
Founded	1907; 117 years ago
Location	Narbonne, France
Ground(s)	Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié (Capacity: 12,000)
President	Bernard Archilla
Coach(es)	Christian Labit, ; Steve Kefu and ; Sébastien Buada
League(s)	Nationale
2022–23	7th
1st kit	2nd kit
Official website
	www.rcnm.com

Racing Club de Narbonne Méditerannée (also known as RCNM) is a French rugby union club that play in the second-level Pro D2.

They are based in Narbonne in Occitania. They were founded in 1907. They play at Parc des Sports Et de l'Amitié (capacity 12,000). They wear orange and black.

History edit

RC Narbonne were established in 1907. The club's first appearance in the domestic championship final came in May 1932, where they faced Lyon in Bordeaux. However, Narbonne were not able to capture their first title, as Lyon would go on to win the final 9 points to three. The following season Narbonne again made it to the final of the league, and once again, Lyon were their opponents. Again played in Bordeaux, Lyon were victorious once again, defeating Narbonne 10 points to three. However, by 1936 Narbonne were once again finalists of the French championship, and on May 10 in Toulouse they defeated Montferrand 6 points to three, claiming their first ever championship.

In 1967 Narbonne contested the final of the Challenge Yves du Manoir, playing FC Lourdes (the 1966 Challenge Yves du Manoir champions). FC Lourdes held onto their title, defeating Narbonne 9 points to three. However the following season, Narbonne were again finalists, and won their first Challenge Yves du Manoir title, defeating Dax 14 points to six.

The 1970s were another successful era for RC Narbonne. In 1973 Narbonne captured their first Challenge Yves du Manoir title since the 1968 season, defeating Béziers 13 points to six. 1974 was a great season for Narbonne; they successfully defended their Challenge Yves du Manoir title by defeating CA Brive in the final, they were also runners-up in the main French championship, being defeated by their 1973 Challenge Yves du Manoir opponents AS Béziers (16 points to 14). In 1978 Narbonne again won the Challenge Yves du Manoir, being awarded the title after drawing 19-all with AS Béziers due to them scoring more tries. 1979 was a very successful year for Narbonne; they were able to hold on to their Challenge Yves du Manoir title, defeating AS Montferrand 9 points to seven, as well as the Challenge Yves du Manoir, Narbonne won the French championship (for the first time since 1936), defeating Stade Bagnérais 10 to nil at Parc des Princes in the final.

Narbonne would also win a number of honours during the 1980s. The club were runners-up in the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1982, losing to US Dax 19 points to 22 in the final. Narbonne won it again in 1984, defeating Toulouse 17 points to 13 in the final. In 1985 Narbonne won the Coupe de France, defeating AS Béziers 28 to 27 after extra time. In 1989 Narbonne won the Challenge Yves du Manoir again, defeating Biarritz 18 points to 12. The club won it again in 1990, defeating Grenoble 24 to 19 in the final. Narbonne made it three in a row after winning the 1991 Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating CA Bègles 24 to 19 in the final game. Narbonne came close to winning the Challenge Yves du Manoir four times in a row, but lost to SU Agen 23-18 in the final. In 2001 Narbonne were runners-up in the European Challenge Cup, losing to the Harlequins 42 to 33 in the final.

The Club has been owned by an Australian Consortium since 2012. The consortium includes Bob Dwyer, Rocky Elsom, Pete O'Connell and Chris Bayman. RCNM made the finals of ProD2 in 2013/14 season losing narrowly to SG Agen. This was achieved with the smallest player budget in the League^[1] and the innovation in recruitment, preparation and training enabled the club to perform well above expectation.

Honours edit

French championship:
- Champions: 1936, 1979
- Runners-up: 1932, 1933, 1974
European Challenge Cup:
- Runners-up: 2001
Challenge Yves du Manoir:
- Champions: 1968, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991
- Runners-up: 1967, 1982, 1992
Coupe de France:
- Champions: 1985

Finals results edit

French championship edit

Date	Winners	Runners-up	Score	Venue	Spectators
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
10 May 1936	RC Narbonne	AS Montferrand	6-3	Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse	25,000
12 May 1974	AS Béziers	RC Narbonne	16-14	Parc des Princes, Paris	40,609
27 May 1979	RC Narbonne	Stade Bagnérais	10-0	Parc des Princes, Paris	41,981

Challenge Yves du Manoir edit

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1967	FC Lourdes	9-3	RC Narbonne
1968	RC Narbonne	14-6	US Dax
1973	RC Narbonne	13-6	AS Béziers
1974	RC Narbonne	19-10	CA Brive
1978	RC Narbonne	19-19 (more tries scored)	AS Béziers
1979	RC Narbonne	9-7	AS Montferrand
1982	US Dax	22-19	RC Narbonne
1984	RC Narbonne	17-13	Stade Toulousain
1989	RC Narbonne	18-12	Biarritz Olympique
1990	RC Narbonne	24-19	FC Grenoble
1991	RC Narbonne	24-19	CA Bègles
1992	SU Agen	23-18	RC Narbonne

Coupe de France edit

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1985	RC Narbonne	28-27 (a.e.t.)	AS Béziers

European Challenge Cup edit

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
2001	Harlequins	42-33	RC Narbonne

Current standings edit

2022–23 Nationale season Table
Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dax (P)	26	21	0	5	715	435	+280	9	2	104	Semi-final promotion play-off
2	Valence Romans (P)	26	17	1	8	675	385	+290	10	7	96	Semi-final promotion play-off
3	Albi	26	17	3	6	620	398	+222	5	4	92	Quarter-final promotion play-off
4	Blagnac	26	17	2	7	572	504	+68	2	3	86
5	Bourgoin-Jallieu	26	16	2	8	606	536	+70	3	3	83
6	Bourg-en-Bresse	26	14	2	10	527	485	+42	4	5	78
7	Narbonne	26	14	1	11	590	565	+25	3	5	75
8	Nice	26	12	2	12	538	475	+63	4	9	74
9	Chambéry	26	13	0	13	581	521	+60	3	6	70
10	Tarbes	26	12	2	12	575	577	−2	2	6	66
11	Suresnes	26	9	1	16	450	704	−254	1	3	51
12	Hyères	26	8	0	18	479	590	−111	1	7	49
13	Rennes (R)	26	4	0	22	322	620	−298	1	6	32	Relegation to Nationale 2
14	Cognac Saint-Jean-d'Angély (R)	26	0	0	26	380	835	−455	0	9	12	Relegation to Nationale 2

Source: ^[2]
Rules for classification: When two teams have the same points total, position is determined by head-to-head results before points difference.
(P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Current squad edit

The Narbonne squad for 2022–23 season is:^[3]

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

Player	Position	Union
Aurélien Blanc	Hooker	France
Christophe David	Hooker	France
Jordan Rochier	Hooker	France
Sylvain Abadie	Prop	France
Mohamed Boughanmi	Prop	France
Theo Castinel	Prop	France
Pascal Cotet	Prop	France
Vakhtang Jintcharadze	Prop	Georgia
Matthieu Loudet	Prop	France
Jules Martinez	Prop	France
Geoffrey Moise	Prop	Portugal
Pierre Causse	Lock	France
Daniel Faleafa	Lock	Tonga
Aston Fortuin	Lock	South Africa
Mohamed Kbaier	Lock	France
Manuel Plaza	Lock	Argentina
Valentin Sese	Lock	France
Dennis Visser	Lock	South Africa
Baptiste Abescat	Back row	France
Carl Axtens	Back row	New Zealand
Paul Belzons	Back row	France
Aleksandre Burduli	Back row	Georgia
Bill Caffo	Back row	France
Louis-Benoit Madaule	Back row	France
Flavien Nouhaillaguet	Back row	France

Player	Position	Union
Luke Campbell	Scrum-half	New Zealand
Jeremy Chaput	Scrum-half	France
Christopher Kaiser	Scrum-half	France
Pierrick Nova	Scrum-half	France
Lucas Meret	Fly-half	France
Joris Pialot	Fly-half	France
Jason Robertson	Fly-half	New Zealand
Saia Fekitoa	Centre	Tonga
Lucas Lebraud	Centre	France
Apimeleki Nawaqatabu	Centre	Fiji
Pierre Nueno	Centre	Spain
Jamie-Jerry Taulagi	Centre	Samoa
Etienne Ducom	Wing	France
Pierre-Hugo Ducom	Wing	France
Guillaume Namy	Wing	France
Kimami Sitauti	Wing	Australia
Save Totovosau	Wing	Fiji
Boris Goutard	Fullback	France
Pierre Justes	Fullback	France

Espoirs squad edit