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 September 21, 1931, by Racing Club de France with the support of two other clubs, CA Bègles and AS Montferrand. In 1931, twelve breakaway clubs had decided to create their own league (UFRA, Union Française du Rugby Amateur) to protest against violence and covert professionalism which French rugby had sunk into, and which had resulted in the exclusion of France from the Five Nations Tournament that year.

Though Racing Club was not one of them and chose to remain loyal to the French Federation, its board considered it had a duty to put the fun back into rugby. Games were often restricted to the forwards, with wings sometimes not touching the ball once in the entire game. Therefore, organizers were very keen to ensure that teams had an attacking style of play, freed from the terse, stressful obligations of championship matches where winning was all that mattered. Special rules were introduced to encourage spectacular play, such as the banning of placed kicks (either penalty or conversion kicks) in order to accelerate the pace. The name of the competition has gone down in the history of French rugby as the epitome of le beau jeu (the beautiful game) and fair play.

Officially, participating clubs were invited by Racing Club de France. Seven of them took part in the inaugural competition. The first two cups were played in a round-robin format. Afterward, round-robin preliminary stages were played before play-offs took the top two teams to the final. The Challenge became the second club competition in France, very much like a cup competition in soccer is second to the championship. As a consequence, le Du-Manoir, as it was nicknamed, became a very sought after title for all French clubs.

The competition bears the name of a young promising French international player from Racing Club de France, Yves du Manoir, who died in a plane crash in January 1928 at the age of 23. There was no competition between 1939 and 1952, a period during which the French Federation launched the Coupe de France.

In 1996-1997, the French Federation took over the competition as Trophée Du-Manoir Coupe de France. In 2001 it became the Coupe de la Ligue, then Challenge Sud-Radio for one year in 2003. The competition died out because of the lack of time available in the year and the development of European cups and international duties for top players.

Since 2004, the Challenge Yves du Manoir has been taken over by Racing Club de France as a youth competition for under 15. RC Narbonne won it in 9 times (12 finals, 20 semi finals, all records). Paradoxically, Racing Club de France never won it and was runner-up only once.

Finals

Year Winner Score Runner-up
1932 SU Agen round robin Lyon OU
1933 Lyon OU round robin SU Agen
1934 Stade Toulousain
RC Toulon
0-0 (tied, joint winners)
1935 USA Perpignan 3-3, 6-0 AS Montferrand
1936 Aviron Bayonnais 9-3 USA Perpignan
1937 Biarritz Olympique 9-3 USA Perpignan
1938 AS Montferrand 23-10 USA Perpignan
1939 Section Paloise 5-0 RC Toulon
1952 Section Paloise round robin Racing Club de France
1953 FC Lourdes 8-0 Section Paloise
1954 FC Lourdes 28-12 RC Toulon
1955 USA Perpignan 22-11 SC Mazamet
1956 FC Lourdes 3-0 USA Perpignan
1957 US Dax 6-6
(by virtue of younger players!)
AS Montferrand
1958 SC Mazamet 3-0 Stade Montois
1959 US Dax 12-8 Section Paloise
1960 Stade Montois 9-9
(scored more tries)
AS Béziers
1961 Stade Montois 17-8 AS Béziers
1962 Stade Montois 14-9 Section Paloise
1963 SU Agen 11-0 CA Brive
1964 AS Béziers 6-3 Section Paloise
1965 US Cognac 5-3 USA Perpignan
1966 FC Lourdes 16-6 Stade Montois
1967 FC Lourdes 9-3 RC Narbonne
1968 RC Narbonne 14-6 US Dax
1969 US Dax 24-12 FC Grenoble
1970 RC Toulon 25-22 SU Agen
1971 US Dax 18-8 Stade Toulousain
1972 AS Béziers 27-6 AS Montferrand
1973 RC Narbonne 13-6 AS Béziers
1974 RC Narbonne 19-10 CA Brive
1975 AS Béziers 16-12 SU Agen
1976 AS Montferrand 40-12 SC Graulhet
1977 AS Béziers 19-18 FC Lourdes
1978 RC Narbonne 19-19
(more tries scored)
AS Béziers
1979 RC Narbonne 9-7 AS Montferrand
1980 Aviron Bayonnais 16-10 AS Béziers
1981 FC Lourdes 25-13 AS Béziers
1982 US Dax 22-19 RC Narbonne
1983 SU Agen 29-7 RC Toulon
1984 RC Narbonne 17-13 Stade Toulousain
1985 RC Nice 21-16 AS Montferrand
1986 AS Montferrand 22-15 FC Grenoble
1987 FC Grenoble 26-7 SU Agen
1988 Stade Toulousain 15-13 US Dax
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
1993 Stade Toulousain 13-8 Castres Olympique
1994 USA Perpignan 18-3 AS Montferrand
1995 Stade Toulousain 41-20 CA Bègles
1996 CA Brive 12-6 Section Paloise
1997 Section Paloise 13-11 CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
1998 Stade Toulousain 22-15 Stade Français Paris
1999 Stade Français Paris 27-19 CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
2000 Biarritz Olympique 24-13 CA Brive
2001 AS Montferrand 34-24 FC Auch
2002 Stade Rochelais 23-19 Biarritz Olympique
2003 (March) Stade Rochelais 22-20 CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
2003 (November) Castres Olympique 27-26 CS Bourgoin-Jallieu

Winners

Finals lost are in brackets

See also

References

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