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Lyon OU Rugby

French rugby union club From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lyon OU Rugby
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Lyon Olympique Universitaire Rugby or LOU is a French professional rugby union team based in Lyon that currently competes in the Top 14, the highest level of the country's professional league system, having been most recently promoted for the 2016–17 season after winning the 2015–16 title of the second-level 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.

Quick Facts Full name, Nickname(s) ...

They were founded in 1896 and play in red and black. In 2011, the team left the Stade Vuillermet for the new Matmut Stadium. In 2017 the team moved to the Matmut Stadium de Gerland.

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History

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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.

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 Toulon (3–6) but winning the next two against Narbonne (9-3 and 10–3). It then played in lower amateur leagues until it was promoted back to the second professional division (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.

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Honours

Finals results

French championship

Date Winners Score Runners-up Venue Spectators
10 May 1931 RC Toulon 6-3 Lyon OU Parc Lescure, Bordeaux 10,000
5 May 1932 Lyon OU 9-3 RC Narbonne Parc Lescure, Bordeaux 13,000
7 May 1933 Lyon OU 10-3 RC Narbonne Parc Lescure, Bordeaux 15,000

European Rugby Challenge Cup

Date Winner Score Runners-up Venue Spectators
27 May 2022 France Lyon OU 30–12 France RC Toulon Stade Vélodrome, Marseille 51,431
23 May 2025 England Bath 37–12 France Lyon OU Millennium Stadium, Cardiff 36,705

Challenge Yves du Manoir

Date Winners Score Runners-up
1932 SU Agen round robin Lyon OU
1933 Lyon OU round robin SU Agen

Current standings

More information Pos, Pld ...
Updated to match(es) played on 9 June 2025. Source: Top 14
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
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Current squad

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The Lyon squad for the 2024–25 season is:[1][2]

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

Espoirs squad

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

More information Player, Position ...
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See also

References

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