Provence Rugby ( oc, Provença Rugbi) is a French

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club currently playing in Rugby Pro D2, the second tier of France's league system. They were promoted back to the second level for the 2018–19 season after 2 seasons in

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2 ...

. Based in Aix-en-Provence in the

Bouches-du-Rhône Bouches-du-Rhône ( , , ; oc, Bocas de Ròse ; "Mouths of the Rhône") is a department in Southern France. It borders Vaucluse to the north, Gard to the west and Var to the east. The Mediterranean Sea lies to the south. Its prefecture and ...

just north of

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

, the club was founded in 1970. They currently play at Stade Maurice David and wear black. The club was known as Aix Rugby Club from 1970 to 2001, and Pays d'Aix Rugby Club (PARC) from 2001 to 2015. At the end of 2004/5 they were promoted to

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as 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 in ...

but were relegated back to

at the end of the season. They would return to Pro D2 as runners-up to

Lannemezan Lannemezan (; Gascon Occitan ''Lanamesa'', "heath of the middle") is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department and the Occitanie region in south-western France. The inhabitants are called Lannemezanais. Lannemezan is the largest city ...

in 2009. In the 2009–10 season, they finished next-to-last on the league table, in a relegation spot. However, they were reprieved when

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 French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

club

Montauban Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...

filed for bankruptcy and were relegated directly to Fédérale 1. They would suffer the drop after the 2012-13 season, not returning until 2015–16. By that time, they had changed their name to the current Provence Rugby, officially announcing the name change on 22 June 2015. Provence finished last in the 2015–16 Pro D2 season. Initially, they were spared relegation when four clubs were relegated to Fédérale 1 due to financial mismanagement, but three of these eventually won appeals and remained in Pro D2, consigning Provence to the drop.

Honours

: ** Champions: 2004, 2015, 2018 ** Runners-up: 2009 * Deuxième Division: ** Champions: 1986

Current standings

Current squad

The Provence squad for the 2021–22 season:

Notable former players

* Jean-Luc Aqua * Guillaume Delmotte * Norman Jordaan * Yannick Ricardo (Portuguese international) * George Kutarashvili (Georgian international) * Legi Matiu (French international) * Mihai Lazăr (Romanian international) * Ovidiu Toniţa (Romanian international) * Bertus Smit (South African Tighthead Prop) * Chris Wyatt (Welsh international)

References

External links

Provence Rugby
- Official site French rugby union clubs Sport in Bouches-du-Rhône Rugby clubs established in 1970 1970 establishments in France Aix-en-Provence {{France-rugbyunion-team-stub