Lyon OU Rugby

Lyon OU
	GL Events
President	Yann Roubert
Coach(es)	Fabien Gengenbacher
Captain(s)	Baptiste Couilloud; Jordan Taufua
League(s)	Top 14
2022–23	3rd
Team kit	2nd kit
Official website
	www.lourugby.fr

Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in

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.

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.

Stade Montois

at the Vuillermet Stadium in Lyon, Pro D2 season 2004-2005

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

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
:
- Champions: 2011, 2014, 2016
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

2023–24 Top 14 Table
Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Stade Français	21	15	1	5	440	356	+84	46	30	4	1	67	Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup and Playoffs
2	Toulouse	21	13	0	8	596	469	+127	81	55	6	3	61
3	Racing 92	21	12	0	9	525	418	+107	67	42	5	4	57
4	Toulon	21	12	0	9	558	418	+140	57	47	4	3	55
5	Bordeaux Bègles	21	12	0	9	521	463	+58	60	54	3	3	54
6	La Rochelle	21	10	0	11	474	372	+102	54	34	5	7	52
7	Pau	21	11	0	10	497	481	+16	51	54	2	4	50	Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Challenge Cup
8	Perpignan	21	11	0	10	500	557	−57	64	69	5	0	49
9	Castres	21	10	0	11	522	523	−1	56	62	4	5	49
10	Bayonne	21	9	0	12	460	532	−72	51	62	2	6	44
11	Clermont	21	8	2	11	447	538	−91	50	63	3	3	42
12	Lyon	21	9	0	12	482	621	−139	52	73	4	2	42
13	Montpellier	21	8	0	13	418	496	−78	46	57	1	5	38	Qualification for Relegation play-off
14	Oyonnax	21	5	1	15	449	645	−196	47	80	0	4	26	Relegation to Pro D2

Updated to match(es) played on 21 April 2024. Source: Top 14

Current squad

The Lyon squad for the 2023–24 season is:^[1]^[2]

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

Player	Position	Union
Yanis Charcosset	Hooker	France
Liam Coltman	Hooker	New Zealand
Guillaume Marchand	Hooker	France
Demba Bamba	Prop	France
Vivien Devisme	Prop	France
Feao Fotuaika	Prop	Tonga
Hamza Kaabéche	Prop	France
Valentin Simutoga	Prop	France
Paulo Tafili	Prop	France
Sébastien Taofifénua	Prop	France
Kilian Geraci	Lock	France
Mickaël Guillard	Lock	France
Joel Kpoku	Lock	England
Félix Lambey	Lock	France
Alban Roussel	Lock	France
Romain Taofifenua	Lock	France
Liam Allen	Back row	New Zealand
Arno Botha	Back row	South Africa
Dylan Cretin	Back row	France
Loann Goujon	Back row	France
Maxime Gouzou	Back row	France
Pierre-Samuel Pacheco	Back row	France
Beka Saghinadze	Back row	Georgia
Jordan Taufua	Back row	Samoa
Théo William	Back row	France

Player	Position	Union
Baptiste Couilloud	Scrum-half	France
Jean-Marc Doussain	Scrum-half	France
Martin Page-Relo	Scrum-half	Italy
Léo Berdeu	Fly-half	France
Paddy Jackson	Fly-half	Ireland
Fletcher Smith	Fly-half	New Zealand
Kyle Godwin	Centre	Australia
Josiah Maraku	Centre	New Zealand
Alfred Parisien	Centre	France
Semi Radradra	Centre	Fiji
Thibaut Regard	Centre	France
Ethan Dumortier	Wing	France
Monty Ioane	Wing	Italy
Xavier Mignot	Wing	France
Vincent Rattez	Wing	France
Thaakir Abrahams	Fullback	South Africa
Davit Niniashvili	Fullback	Georgia

Espoirs squad