RC Toulon

Rugby Club Toulonnais, also referred to as Rugby Club Toulon or simply Toulon, is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon and competing in the Top 14. Located on the French Riviera, in the Provence region, the club plays its home games at the 17,500-capacity Stade Mayol.

Founded in 1908, Toulon is one of the most important and widely supported rugby clubs in France. Domestically, the club has won a total of four league titles, two Pro D2 titles and two Challenge Yves du Manoir. In international competitions, Toulon is the only one to have won the Heineken Cup/European Rugby Champions Cup three times in a row, and succeeded in winning the league/European cup double in 2014 too. Toulon has also won the EPCR Challenge Cup in 2023 after reaching the final on four occasions. The club established itself as a major force in domestic and European rugby in the 2010s when Jonny Wilkinson, Mathieu Bastareaud, Bakkies Botha, Matt Giteau and other rugby stars played at Mayol under Bernard Laporte's management.

A club renowned for its fans fervour and its stadium atmosphere, Toulon has rivalries with Toulouse and Clermont and has traditionally worn a red and black home kit since its inception. The club's crest features a sprig of lily of the valley, symbol of the club's benefactor and Belle Époque singer Félix Mayol who used to wear one on his jacket. A few times per season, important matches against major teams are played at the 67,394-capacity Stade Vélodrome located in Marseille 50 km away.

History
Rugby Club Toulonnais was founded on 3 June 1908 as a merger of Étoile Sportive Varoise and members of the Stade Varois, a club based in nearby La Seyne-sur-Mer. It took the club 23 years to reach the top of French rugby, when they won the 1931 championship against Lyon Olympique Universitaire (6–3, 2 tries to 1). The players were greeted by 30,000 people when they returned from Bordeaux, where the final had been held.

Toulon remained one of the top French clubs, but they lost four finals scattered over 35 years (1948, 1968, 1971 and 1985). The 1985 extra-time defeat by Stade Toulousain left them with many regrets, and playing a spectacular final (36–22) did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing. The Red and Black waited only two more years to finally lay their hands on the Bouclier de Brennus, as they defeated Racing at the Parc des Princes. The third title came in 1992, against Biarritz Olympique, in Serge Blanco's last match and last chance to win the title.

For eight years, Toulon were not particularly successful and were in heavy financial trouble (a 10 million franc deficit) forced the Ligue Nationale de Rugby to demote them to the Second Division in July 2000. The club missed an immediate return the next year, going down in the final to Montauban, as only one club was promoted that year. It took them five more years to do so as Toulon went on to win the Pro D2 title. But despite immense popular support (gates averaged more than 12,000), and much enthusiasm, they managed to win only three games out of 26 and were relegated after only a season.

Toulon signs star players
A new president, Mourad Boudjellal, a Toulonnais who made his fortune in the comic strip business, promised to build a huge team. He said: "I invented the Top 15, with a team that could be competitive in the Top 14". He signed a high number of first-class players, some of them well above 30, like Jean-Jacques Crenca, Yann Delaigue, Gonzalo Quesada and Dan Luger. He created buzz around the team as he managed to sign former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga, who arrived in Toulon right after the end of the Air New Zealand Cup on 26 October 2006. The contract was rumoured to be around €300,000 (£200,000), which Boudjellal claimed to pay from his own pocket, for only eight to ten matches. In a 2010 interview, Boudjellal would say about his decision to pursue Umaga, "It was incredible, because we were in the second division and I was speaking with the best player in the world. But he said yes and came to play with Toulon."

Boudjellal continued to sign high-profile veteran players, including captain and former all-time international caps leader George Gregan, reportedly paid €400,000 out of Boudjellal's pocket, All Blacks' former all-time scoring leader Andrew Mehrtens, and Jonny Wilkinson.

Back in Pro D2 for the 2006–07 season, Toulon finish fourth in the league, putting them in the promotion playoffs for a place in the Top 14, but they lost in the promotion semi-finals 21–17 at La Rochelle. The following season Toulon headed the table from early on, never dropping from the top spot on their way to clinching promotion with two rounds to spare. The 2008–09 season proved to be one of consolidation. Umaga had been handed the coaching reins, but as Boudjellal would later say, "The first season in the Top 14 was very difficult and I learned that Tana Umaga was not yet ready to give up playing – and that he's not a manager." The team managed to survive that season, using a late-season surge to avoid a relegation scare. Toulon had a much more successful 2009–10 campaign, with Wilkinson leading the charge. He would be named the top fly-half of the year in France by leading rugby publication Midi Olympique, and would also be recalled to the England national team. Domestically, Toulon finished second on the league table, losing out to Perpignan for the top spot on a tiebreaker. This finish gave them a spot in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and also a first-round bye in that season's Top 14 playoffs. Toulon's domestic campaign ended in the semi-finals with a 35–29 extra-time loss to eventual champion Clermont in Saint-Étienne.

Toulon's 2009–10 Challenge Cup campaign proved more successful. They finished top of their pool and advanced to the knockout stage, crushing Scarlets 38–12 in the quarterfinals and surviving a hard-fought match against Connacht 19–12. Toulon got their preferred final venue of the Vélodrome on 23 May, where they lost to the Cardiff Blues 28–21, missing out on silverware for the season.

In May 2013 Toulon won the 2013 Heineken Cup Final by 16–15 against Clermont Auvergne.

Emblem
On the day of his arrival in Paris, on 1 May 1895, just before his first concert, Félix Mayol was met by a female friend at the station, who gave him some lily-of-the-valley, a flower people traditionally exchange on 1 May in France. He pinned it on his lapel, his concert was a success and Mayol, who was superstitious, made the lily-of-the-valley his personal emblem. It was taken up by the rugby club in 1921.

Stadium
In 1920, its stadium was inaugurated. It is named after Félix Mayol, a very popular concert hall singer from Toulon who had succeeded in Paris in the early 20th century. Shortly after World War I, he purchased what would be the stadium site and donated it to the club. It is one of the few French stadiums to be almost completely surrounded by the city and overlooks the Toulon bay and military harbour in the Mediterranean.

Charity cross-code matches
The club has played in cross-code charity matches with a half each of rugby union and football. On July 18, 2013, they played Olympique de Marseille in the first ever match of the kind at the Stade Mayol to benefit a local charity with Marc Lièvremont and Eric Cantona as the referees in either half, with Olympique de Marseille winning 36–35.

Two years later, the club played another such match to benefit a local children's charity at the Stade Mayol against France 98, the charity association team composed of France's 1998 FIFA World Cup winners, and won 33–26. Bernard Laporte served as one of the referees.

Honours

 * Heineken Cup/European Rugby Champions Cup
 * Champions (3): 2013, 2014, 2015
 * European Rugby Challenge Cup
 * Champions (1): 2023
 * Runners-up (4): 2010, 2012, 2020, 2022
 * French championship Top 14
 * Champions (4): 1931, 1987, 1992, 2014
 * Runners-up (9): 1948, 1968, 1971, 1985, 1989, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017
 * Challenge Yves du Manoir
 * Champions (2): 1934, 1970
 * Runners-up (3): 1939, 1954, 1983
 * Pro D2
 * Champions (2): 2005, 2008
 * Runners-up (1): 2001

Current squad
The Toulon squad for the 2023–24 season is:

Notable former players
This is a list of former players in alphabetical order showing nationality and the period played for the club.

French

 * Marc Andreu (2002–2009)
 * Mathieu Bastareaud (2011–2019)
 * Benjamin Bastères (2001–2011, 2022–2023)
 * Jean Berti
 * Christian Califano (1990–1991)
 * Christian Carrère
 * Éric Champ (1979–1996)
 * Jean-Jacques Crenca (2006–2007)
 * Yann Delaigue (1988–1997, 2006–2007)
 * Christophe Dominici (1993–1997)
 * Jérôme Gallion (1975–1989)
 * André Herrero
 * Aubin Hueber (1991–2000, 2003–2006)
 * Jean-Teiva Jacquelain "Academy" (2015–2017)
 * Benjamin Lapeyre (2010–2013)
 * Jo Maso (1962–1964)
 * Eric Melville
 * Jacques Merquey
 * Pierre Mignoni (1996–2000, 2009–2011)
 * Olivier Missoup (2008–2012)
 * Marc de Rougemont (1991–1998)
 * Jean-Baptiste Rué (2006–2007)
 * Thomas Sourice (2000–2012)
 * Jean-François Tordo

International

 * 🇦🇷 Felipe Contepomi
 * 🇦🇷 Matias Cortese
 * 🇦🇷 Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe
 * 🇦🇷 Juan Martín Hernández
 * 🇦🇷 Facundo Isa
 * 🇦🇷 Esteban Lozada
 * 🇦🇷 Gonzalo Quesada
 * 🇦🇷 Nicolás Sánchez
 * 🇦🇷 Leonardo Senatore
 * 🇦🇺 Fotu Auelua
 * 🇦🇺 Quade Cooper
 * 🇦🇺 Rocky Elsom
 * 🇦🇺 Matt Giteau
 * 🇦🇺 George Gregan
 * 🇦🇺 Matt Henjak
 * 🇦🇺 Noah Lolesio
 * 🇦🇺 Salesi Ma'afu
 * 🇦🇺 Drew Mitchell
 * 🇦🇺 James O'Connor
 * 🇦🇺 Luke Rooney
 * 🇦🇺 George Smith
 * 🇦🇺 Jone Tawake
 * 🇦🇺 Lachlan Turner
 * 🇨🇿 Martin Jágr
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Delon Armitage
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Steffon Armitage
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Chris Ashton
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Kris Chesney
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Joe El-Abd
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nick Kennedy
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dan Luger
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tom May
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paul Sackey
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Dean Schofield
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Simon Shaw
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Matt Stevens
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andrew Sheridan
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Jonny Wilkinson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 David Ribbans
 * Sireli Bobo
 * Sisa Koyamaibole
 * Gabiriele Lovobalavu
 * Semi Radradra
 * Manasa Saulo
 * Josua Tuisova
 * Levan Chilachava
 * Mamuka Gorgodze
 * Davit Kubriashvili
 * Konstantin Mikautadze
 * Ilia Zedginidze
 * Gia Labadze
 * Akvsenti Giorgadze
 * 🇩🇪 Damien Tussac
 * Rob Henderson
 * Paul O'Connell
 * 🇮🇹 Martin Castrogiovanni
 * 🇮🇹 Santiago Dellapè
 * 🇮🇹 Ramiro Pez
 * 🇯🇵 Ayumu Goromaru
 * 🇯🇵 Christian Loamanu
 * 🇳🇿 Jerry Collins
 * 🇳🇿 Malakai Fekitoa
 * 🇳🇿 Alby Mathewson
 * 🇳🇿 Carl Hayman
 * 🇳🇿 Chris Masoe
 * 🇳🇿 Leicester Fainga'anuku
 * 🇳🇿 Ihaia West
 * 🇳🇿 Andrew Mehrtens
 * 🇳🇿 Liam Messam
 * 🇳🇿 Ma'a Nonu
 * 🇳🇿 Anton Oliver
 * 🇳🇿 Julian Savea
 * 🇳🇿 Saimone Taumoepeau
 * 🇳🇿 Tana Umaga
 * 🇳🇿 Ali Williams
 * 🇳🇿 Sonny Bill Williams
 * 🇳🇿 Rudi Wulf
 * Bakkies Botha
 * Michael Claassens
 * Eben Etzebeth
 * Bryan Habana
 * Cheslin Kolbe
 * Juandré Kruger
 * Victor Matfield
 * JP Pietersen
 * André Pretorius
 * Danie Rossouw
 * Lawrence Sephaka
 * Juan Smith
 * Marcel van der Merwe
 * Joe van Niekerk
 * Duane Vermeulen
 * Lorne Ward
 * 🇷🇴 Radu Demian
 * 🇷🇴 Alin Petrache
 * Alafoti Fa'osiliva
 * Tusi Pisi
 * Junior Polu
 * David Smith
 * Philip Fitzgerald
 * Rory Lamont
 * Makalea Foliaki(Academy)
 * Jean-Teiva Jacquelain(Academy)
 * 🇹🇴 Mafileo Kefu
 * 🇺🇸 Samu Manoa
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Leigh Halfpenny
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Alun Wyn Jones
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gavin Henson
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Gethin Jenkins
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Dan Biggar
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Jamie Robinson