Challenge Yves du Manoir explained

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). Racing Club de France never won the competition, and was runner-up only once.

Finals

YearWinnerScoreRunner-up
1932SU Agenalign=center round robin
1933 Lyon OUalign=center round robinSU Agen
1934Stade Toulousain
RC Toulon		align=center 0-0 (tied, joint winners)
1935USA Perpignanalign=center 3-3, 6-0AS Montferrand
1936Aviron Bayonnaisalign=center 9-3USA Perpignan
1937Biarritz Olympiquealign=center 9-3USA Perpignan
1938AS Montferrandalign=center 23-10USA Perpignan
1939Section Paloisealign=center 5-0RC Toulon
1952Section Paloise align=center round robinRacing Club de France
1953FC Lourdes align=center 8-0Section Paloise
1954FC Lourdesalign=center 28-12RC Toulon
1955 USA Perpignanalign=center 22-11SC Mazamet
1956FC Lourdesalign=center 3-0USA Perpignan
1957US Daxalign=center 6-6
(by virtue of younger players!)		AS Montferrand
1958SC Mazametalign=center 3-0Stade Montois
1959US Daxalign=center 12-8Section Paloise
1960Stade Montois align=center 9-9
(scored more tries)		AS Béziers
1961Stade Montois align=center 17-8AS Béziers
1962Stade Montois align=center 14-9Section Paloise
1963SU Agenalign=center 11-0CA Brive
1964AS Béziersalign=center 6-3Section Paloise
1965US Cognacalign=center 5-3USA Perpignan
1966FC Lourdesalign=center 16-6Stade Montois
1967FC Lourdesalign=center 9-3RC Narbonne
1968RC Narbonnealign=center 14-6US Dax
1969US Daxalign=center 24-12FC Grenoble
1970RC Toulonalign=center 25-22SU Agen
1971US Daxalign=center 18-8Stade Toulousain
1972AS Béziersalign=center 27-6AS Montferrand
1973RC Narbonnealign=center 13-6AS Béziers
1974RC Narbonnealign=center 19-10CA Brive
1975AS Béziers align=center 16-12SU Agen
1976AS Montferrandalign=center 40-12SC Graulhet
1977AS Béziersalign=center 19-18FC Lourdes
1978RC Narbonne19-19
(more tries scored)		AS Béziers
1979RC Narbonnealign=center 9-7AS Montferrand
1980Aviron Bayonnaisalign=center 16-10AS Béziers
1981FC Lourdesalign=center 25-13AS Béziers
1982US Daxalign=center 22-19RC Narbonne
1983SU Agenalign=center 29-7RC Toulon
1984RC Narbonnealign=center 17-13Stade Toulousain
1985RC Nicealign=center 21-16AS Montferrand
1986AS Montferrandalign=center 22-15FC Grenoble
1987FC Grenoblealign=center 26-7SU Agen
1988Stade Toulousainalign=center 15-13US Dax
1989RC Narbonnealign=center 18-12Biarritz Olympique
1990RC Narbonnealign=center 24-19FC Grenoble
1991RC Narbonnealign=center 24-19CA Bègles
1992SU Agenalign=center 23-18RC Narbonne
1993Stade Toulousainalign=center 13-8Castres Olympique
1994USA Perpignanalign=center 18-3AS Montferrand
1995Stade Toulousainalign=center 41-20CA Bègles
1996CA Brivealign=center 12-6Section Paloise
1997Section Paloisealign=center 13-11CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
1998Stade Toulousainalign=center 22-15Stade Français Paris
1999Stade Français Parisalign=center 27-19CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
2000Biarritz Olympiquealign=center 24-13CA Brive
2001AS Montferrandalign=center 34-24FC Auch
2002Stade Rochelaisalign=center 23-19Biarritz Olympique
2003 (March)Stade Rochelaisalign=center 22-20CS Bourgoin-Jallieu
2003 (November)Castres Olympiquealign=center 27-26CS Bourgoin-Jallieu

Winners

Finals lost are in brackets

9 (3)

6 (1)

5 (2)

5 (2)

4 (6)

4 (4)

3 (5)

3 (5)

3 (1)

2 (3)

2 (2)

2

2

1 (4)

1 (3)

1 (1)

1 (1)

1 (1)

1 (1)

1

1

0 (1)

0 (1)

See also

References

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