Tarbes
Full nameTarbes Pyrénées Rugby
Nickname(s)Les Ours bigourdans (The Bigourdan Bears)
Founded2000 (2000)
LocationTarbes, France
Ground(s)Stade Maurice Trélut (Capacity: 16,400)
PresidentJean-Pierre Davant
Coach(es)Pierre-Henry Broncan
Nicolas Nadau
League(s)Nationale
2022–2310th
1st kit
2nd kit
Official website
www.tpr65.com

Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently takes part in Nationale, the third level of the country's league system.

They were founded in August 2000 as a result of a merger between Stadoceste Tarbais and the senior side of Cercle Amical Lannemezanais. They play in red and white. They are based in Tarbes, the capital of the Hautes-Pyrénées département, in Occitania, and play at the Stade Maurice Trélut.

History

Several clubs from the Bigorre region have been part of the history of rugby union in France, but none of them was able to keep up with the times when professionalism appeared. Stadoceste Tarbais, the big regional gun, a two-time French champion, was struggling in the amateur leagues, like FC Lourdes (8 times French champion) and Stade Bagnérais. However, at the end of the 1999-2000 season, CA Lannemezan reached Pro D2 for the first time ever. But the Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which operates the French professional leagues, blocked the promotion, fearing that a club in a town of 6 000-odd inhabitants would never survive as a professional outfit. Stadoceste Tarbais, which had just been promoted to the 4th division (Fédérale 2), made CA Lannemezan an offer to join forces in order to build a strong viable club and reach Top 14 in the near future. Tarbes and Lannemezan are 35 km apart. The plan was backed by the local government of Hautes-Pyrénées, which would only support one top level club in the area. FC Lourdes and Stade Bagnérais were offered to join but rejected the offer as they feared that they would lose their identity in a bigger club which, in all likelihood, would play in the capital of the department, Tarbes. The board of CA Lannemezan originally rejected the merger 73%–27%, but the club president managed to get it done.

In August 2000, the new club LT65 (Lannemezan Tarbes Hautes-Pyrénées) took off as a merger of Stadoceste Tarbais and CA Lannemezan, and took the place of Lannemezan in Pro D2. Very soon though, dissensions appeared inside the club: all games were played in Tarbes, while Lannemezan became « dead on matchdays » (according to the CAL president), professional and semi-professional players were mixed, leading to frictions inside the squad etc. Soon, the club was renamed Tarbes Pyrénées Rugby, severing the symbolic link with Lannemezan. In 2003, some players and board members left and decided to relaunch the senior team in their lifelong club which had kept its youth teams. By 2005, Lannemezan was back in Fédérale 1 and hoping to climb back to Pro D2, with a view to juicy derbies against TPR; their ambitions were realized in 2009, when they won the Fédérale 1 crown and earned promotion to Pro D2. TPR has not been able to establish itself as a candidate for promotion to Top 14 so far.

Honours

  • French Championship
    • Champions (2): 1920, 1973
    • Runners-up (3): 1914, 1951, 1988

Finals results

French championship

Date Winner Runner up Score Venue Spectators
3 May 1914 AS Perpignan Stadoceste Tarbais 8–7 Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse 15,000
25 April 1920 Stadoceste Tarbais Racing Club de France 8–3 Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat 20,000
20 May 1951 US Carmaux Stadoceste Tarbais 14–12 (a.e.t) Stadium Municipal, Toulouse 39,450
20 May 1973 Stadoceste Tarbais US Dax 18–12 Stadium Municipal, Toulouse 26,952
28 May 1988 SU Agen Stadoceste Tarbais 9-3 Parc des Princes, Paris 48,000

Current standings

2022–23 Nationale season Table
Pos Team 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
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
Source: [1]
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

2021 Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Gonzalo Manso Moyano Hooker Argentina Argentina
Nicolas Basile Prop Argentina Argentina
David Dadunashvili Prop Georgia (country) Georgia
Kakhaber Koberidze Prop Georgia (country) Georgia
Nikoloz Kazalikashvili Prop Georgia (country) Georgia
Alexandre Duny Prop France France
Isoa Domolailai Lock Fiji Fiji
Mikael Lacroix Lock France France
Davit Gigauri Lock Georgia (country) Georgia
James Percival Lock England England
Alexis Armary Flanker France France
Loic Bernad Flanker France France
David Bonnecarrere Flanker France France
Semisi Taulava Number 8 Tonga Tonga
Paula Havela Number 8 New Zealand New Zealand
Player Position Union
Maxime Bats Scrum-half France France
Nicolas Vergallo Scrum-half Argentina Argentina
Jean-Baptiste Claverie Fly-half France France
Jonathan Brethous Centre France France
Julien Lastisneres Palacin Centre France France
Anitelega Tuilagi Centre Samoa Samoa
Morgan Rubio Wing France France
Aderito Esteves Wing Portugal Portugal
Sionasa Vunisa Wing Fiji Fiji
Adrien Domec Fullback France France
William Pees Fullback France France

Notable former players

See also

References

  1. "Classement NATIONALE". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). Retrieved 22 May 2023.
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