Aviron Bayonnais (AB, ), commonly called Bayonne, is a French

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club from

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

(''Baiona'' in Basque) in

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon language, Gascon Occitan language, Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; ) is a Departments of France, department located in the Regions of France, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in the southwest corner of metropolitan ...

which competes in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

, the top tier of the French league system. Founded in 1904, they play at the Parc des Sports, also known as Stade Jean-Dauger, in Bayonne. The club mascot is a

pottok The Pottok or Pottoka ( or , ), is an endangered, semi-feral breed of pony native to the Pyrenees of the Basque Country in France and Spain. It is considered an ancient breed of horse, particularly well adapted to the harsh mountain areas it ...

pony called ''pottoka''. They have ties to the French Basque community.

History

The club was established on 14 October 1906. They made their first final appearance in the 1913 season, when they defeated S.C.U.F. 31–8 at the

Stade Yves-du-Manoir The Stade Yves-du-Manoir (officially Stade olympique Yves-du-Manoir, also known as the Stade olympique de Colombes, or simply Colombes to the locals) is a rugby, track, and association football stadium in Colombes, near Paris, France. History ...

. The national domestic championship was replaced by the

Coupe de l'Espérance The Coupe de l'Espérance was a rugby union competition that was played in France to replace the national championship during World War I, as many players were sent to the front. The teams used mostly young boys who had not been drafted yet. The cu ...

during World War I. This competition was played for four seasons, with Aviron Bayonnais contesting the last final, which they lost to Stadoceste Tarbais 4–3. With the French championship resumed, the club made their next championship game in the 1922 season, when they met

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. Bayonne lost the final 6–0. The two teams would contest the championship final once more the next season, which Toulouse won again, 3–0. Aviron Bayonnais enjoyed success during the mid-1930s, beating

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

13–8 in Toulouse to win their second championship, their first since 1913. They also won the

Challenge Yves du Manoir The Challenge Yves du Manoir was a rugby union club competition that was played in France between 1931 and 2003 under different names. It is named after former player Yves du Manoir. History The Challenge Yves du Manoir was officially created on ...

in 1936, defeating

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

in the final. The club saw similar results during the mid-1940s, with two championship final appearances, defeating

SU Agen Sporting Union Agen Lot-et-Garonne (), commonly referred to as SU Agen, Agen () or SUALG, is a French professional rugby union club based in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne that competes in the Pro D2, France's second division of rugby. Founded in 1908, ...

in the 1943 final at

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

in Paris and losing the 1944 season final to Perpignan. The following decades were less successful, and the club would have to wait until the 1980s to reach another championship final. In 1980 they contested the final of the Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating AS Béziers 16–10 to win their second title in that competition. They made it to the championship final in the 1982 season, but were defeated by SU Agen, 18–9. Aviron Bayonnais was relegated to the Group A2 in 1996, where it spent eight seasons. Following promotion to the Top 16/14 in 2004, they remained in the top flight for 11 consecutive seasons. The team was relegated to the Pro D2 in 2015, and has been a

yo-yo club A yo-yo club is a sporting side that is regularly promoted and relegated. The phrase is most typically used in association football in the United Kingdom, especially in reference to promotion to and relegation from the Premier League. The name ...

since then. In the 2021–22 Rugby Pro D2 season, they were promoted after defeating

Stade Montois Stade Montois Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black. They are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the c ...

49–20 in the playoff final.

Honours

* French championship Top 14 ** Champions (3):

1913 Events January * January – Joseph Stalin travels to Vienna to research his ''Marxism and the National Question''. This means that, during this month, Stalin, Hitler, Trotsky and Tito are all living in the city. * January 3 &ndash ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

** Runners-up (4):

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

** Champions (2):

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

** Champions (2): 1936, 1980 *

** Runners-up: 1919

Finals results

French championship

Challenge Yves du Manoir

Coupe de l'Espérance

Current standings

Current squad

The Bayonne squad for the 2024–25 season is:

Espoirs squad

Notable former players

Lisandro Arbizu Lisandro Arbizu (born September 29, 1971 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union footballer. He plays at fly-half or inside centre. He began playing for the local traditional club Belgrano Athletic Club and was one of the first Argentine play ...

* Martín Bustos Moyano * Matías Cortese * Nicolás Fernández Miranda * Santiago Fernández * José María Núñez Piossek * Juan Pablo Orlandi * Rodney Blake *

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* Cameron Treloar * Ramón Ayarza * Phil Davies * Filimoni Bolavucu * Gabiriele Lovobalavu * Savenaca Rawaca * Metuisela Talebula * Saïmoni Vaka * André Alvarez * Clément Ancely * Grégory Arganese * Yoan Audrin * Julien Audy * Denis Avril * Marc Baget * Antoine Battut * Robert Baulon * André Béhotéguy * Henri Béhotéguy * Christian Bélascain * Eugène Billac * Benjamin Boyet * Renaud Boyoud * Maurice Celhay * Baptiste Chouzenoux * Jean Condom *

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* Walter Desmaison * Pierre Dospital * Richard Dourthe * Bernard Duprat * Pépito Elhorga * Jean-Pierre Élissalde * Anthony Étrillard * Benjamin Fall * Fernand Forgues * Xavier Garbajosa * Pierre Gayraud * Jean-Michel Gonzalez * Steven Hall * Arnaud Héguy * Cédric Heymans * Yoann Huget * Aretz Iguiniz * Vincent Inigo * Jean Iraçabal * Louis Junquas * Paul Labadie * Simon Labouyrie * Thibault Lacroix * Patrice Lagisquet * Damien Lagrange * Daniel Larrechea * Grégoire Lascubé *

René Lasserre Félix "René" Lasserre (9 October 1895 – 19 August 1965) was a French rugby union player who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics. He was born in Bayonne and died in Saint-Avold. In 1924 he won the silver medal as member of the French ...

* Christophe Lamaison *

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* Christian Magnanou * Jean-Jo Marmouyet * Romain Martial *

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* Lionel Mazars * Yannick N'Gog * Marvin O'Connor * Charles Ollivon * Clément Otazo * Laurent Pardo * Patrick Perrier * Jean-Baptiste Peyras-Loustalet * Roland Pétrissans * Lucas Pointud * Julien Puricelli * Jérôme Schuster * Scott Spedding * Jacques Rollet * David Roumieu * Benjamin Thiéry * Matthieu Ugalde * Jean-Marie Usandisaga * Giorgi Jgenti * Davit Khinchaguishvili * Avto Kopaliani * Lorenzo Cittadini * Craig Gower * Salvatore Perugini * Ramiro Pez *

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* P. J. van Lill * Stephen Brett * Tom Donnelly * Ross Filipo * Troy Flavell * Gerard Fraser * Dwayne Haare * Tanerau Latimer * Sione Lauaki *

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* Blair Stewart *

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* Willie du Plessis * Sam Gerber * JC Janse van Rensburg * Rassie Jansen van Vuuren *

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* Viacheslav Grachev * Census Johnston * Leo Lafaiali'i * Jeremy Tomuli * Johnnie Beattie * James McLaren * Oscar Astarloa * Cédric Garcia * Francisco Puertas Soto * Manu Ahotaeiloa * Lisiate Faʻaoso * Pila Fifita * Opeti Fonua * Ben Broster * Mike Phillips

Coaches

* 2008–2010 : Richard Dourthe, Thierry Mentières, Jean-Philippe Coyola. * 2010 : Christian Gajan. * 2010–2011 : Christian Gajan, Thomas Lièvremont, Frédéric Tauzin. * 2011–2012 : Jean-Pierre Elissalde, Didier Faugeron, Pierre-Henry Broncan. * 2012–2012 : Didier Faugeron, Denis Avril. * 2012–2013 : Christian Lanta, Christophe Deylaud, Denis Avril. * 2013–2014 : Christian Lanta, Christophe Deylaud. * 2014–2015 :

Patricio Noriega Patricio Noriega (born 22 October 1971, Argentina) is a former Argentine rugby union footballer who played prop. He started his career in local club Hindu and had his test debut for Los Pumas in 1991 against Paraguay. After playing two Rugby Wor ...

, Nicolas Morlaes, Rob Linde, Daniel Larrechea. *2015–2017 : Vincent Etcheto, Dewald Senekal, Simone Santa Maria. *2017–2018 : Pierre Berbizier, Joël Rey, Vincent Etcheto, Simone Santa Maria. *2018–2019 : Yannick Bru, Joël Rey, Vincent Etcheto, Éric Artiguste. *2019–2021 : Yannick Bru, Joël Rey, Rémy Ladauge, Éric Artiguste. *2021–2022 Yannick Bru, Joël Rey, Éric Artiguste, Jean-Frédéric Dubois. *2022- : Grégory Patat, Joël Rey, Gerard Fraser, Éric Artiguste.

References

External links

* *
Club information
{{Authority control Aviron Bayonnais

Rugby clubs established in 1904 Organizations based in Northern Basque Country 1904 establishments in France