Full name | Rugby Club Toulonnais |
---|---|
Founded | 1908 |
Location | Toulon, France |
Ground(s) | Stade Mayol (Capacity: 15,820) |
President | Mourad Boudjellal |
Coach(es) | Mike Ford |
Captain(s) | Juan Smith |
League(s) | Top 14 |
2015–16 | 2nd (playoff finalists) |
Official website | |
www |
Rugby Club Toulonnais (French pronunciation: [ʁyɡbi klœb tulɔnɛ]), also known as RCT but usually Toulon) (Occitan: Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they have won the national competition on four occasions.
Established in 1908, Toulon currently play their home games at the Stade Mayol, although they have begun to take high-profile matches to the 60,000-seat Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, playing one match there in 2008–09 and two in both 2009–10 and 2010–11. The club colours are red and black. Toulon were Pro D2 champions in 2005, but after finishing 14th in the 2005-06 Top 14 season, they were relegated back down. After signing a number of high-profile players, the club made a strong run at promotion in the 2006–07 season, and succeeded in their promotion quest in 2007–08, winning that season's Pro D2 crown with two rounds to spare. They struggled to avoid relegation for much of the 2008–09 Top 14 season, but a late-season surge brought them to ninth place and safety.
Their 2009–10 Top 14 season was more successful, with a second-place regular-season finish and a semi-final place domestically and a runner-up finish in the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup. In 2012, they again advanced to the Challenge Cup final, losing to Biarritz, and advanced to the Top 14 final, losing to Toulouse. In May 2013 Toulon won the 2013 Heineken Cup Final by 16–15 against Clermont Auvergne, and lost the Top 14 Final against Castres in June. They retained the Heineken Cup with a 23–6 win over Saracens in May 2014. They added a historic 3rd win in a row with a 24–18 win over Clermont in the 2015 final.