Villefranche XIII Aveyron

Club information

Full name

Nickname(s)

Les Loups

Website

Founded

1950

Current details

Ground(s)

Stade Henri Lagarde (2,700)

Chairman

Pierre Bonnefont

Coach(s)

Andrei Olari

Manager(s)

Paul Fraysse

Captain(s)

Cedric Prizzon

Competition

Elite Two Championship

2015/16

4th

Uniforms

Home colours

Villefranche XIII Aveyron are a semi-professional rugby league club based in Villefranche-de-Rouergue, Aveyron in southern France. Formed in 1950, they currently play in the Elite Two Championship. Their home stadium is the Stade Henri Lagarde

History

The club was founded in 1950 under the name Villefranche XIII after the towns rugby union club Stade Villefranchois switched codes after several disagreements with the French rugby union authorities. On 8 January 1950 the clubs president Andre Rotambourg applied to join the French rugby league and the club was accepted and began the following season in the amateur 2nd Division. In 1953 they lost the 2nd Division final 10-13 against Arcachon. Four years later they reached their only Coupe Falcou final but lost to Facture. It would take until 1962 for the club to be crowned 2nd Division champions, defeating La Reole XIII 21-3 to gain promotion to the National League 1 now the 2nd tier Elite Two. They remained in the 2nd tier until 1976 when they were relegated. They immediately won promotion back, but their stay was short-lived just the one season again.

In 1982 the club signed their first overseas players when they brought over three Australians from N Sydney Bears in Michael Glascock, Richard Lewis and Craig Ebert. In 1990 Le Barcares XIII defeated Villefranche 12-6 in the Elite Two Championship final to deny the club promotion. The feat was achieved in 1992 when they beat Limoux Grizzlies 12-6 and won promotion. They were relegated after only twelve months and had to wait six years to return, courtesy of a 38-18 win over Saint-Cyprien in 1999. The club also changed their name to Villefranche XIII Aveyron to encompass the local area of Aveyron and a new nickname was added Les Loups (The Wolves). Financial problems off the pitch almost led to the club's demise and in 2004 they merged with Cahors XIII to form Union Villefranche-Cahors XIII. In 2008 the club cancelled its merger with "Cahors XIII" and reverted to the club name Villefranche XIII Aveyron. By this time the club was back in the 3rd tier but in 2009 they won promotion back to the 2nd tier after beating Realmont XIII 24-20 in the National Division 1 final. The club runs junior and women's teams.^[1]

Crest

The Villefranche XIII Aveyron clubs crest of the wolf was most likely selected because of the Cévennes National Park a local tourist attraction in Aveyron where wolves are sometimes seen, although numbers have decreased greatly over the years. There is also a local folklore story about a Beast of Gevaudan that would reside in and around the local areas, with many tales describing the beast as a large wolf or wolf-like creature.

Stadium

The Stade Henri Lagarde is a rugby stadium in Villefranche with one main stand with a cinder track and perimeter fence around the pitch.^[2]

2015-16 squad

No.	Position	Player
1	FB	Clement Vernhes
2	WG	Loic Taurin
3	CE	Cyril Pontoon
4	CE	Joshua Davis
5	WG	Adrien Raimondo
6	SO	Tovio Amanona
7	SH	Morgan Carensac
8	PR	Morad Mohammad
9	HK	Alex Bailey
10	PR	Cedric Prizzon (capt)
11	SR	Julien Yanguas
12	SR	Alex Magna
13	LF	Patrice Gregory
14	PR	Cedric Novels
15	PR	Rahdy Brawa

No.	Position	Player
16	LF	Bernard Auliac
17	SO	Nicolas Vlanova
18	HK	Bastien Divekar
19	WG	David Lacombe
20	SH	Romain Teulade
21	SR	Vincent Bablon
22	PR	Cedric Romans
23	WG	Shann Brugel
24	PR	Anthony Calvet
25	SR	Dorian Combettes
26	WG	Raphael Roux
27	PR	Lucas Russery
28	FB	Remi Tissot
29	CE	Pierre Cazes
	WG	Paul Portal

^[3]

Internationals

Yves Begou 3 Apps (15 in total]
Jean Pierre Sauret 7 Apps (16 in total)
Jacques Gayral 1 App
Francis Theron 9 Apps
Christian Laumond 10 Apps (11 in total)
Patrick Wosniak 2 Apps (3 in total)
Charles Frison 2 Apps (3 in total)
Mikhail Piskunov 1 App
Jason Sands 7 Apps

Notable Players

Honours

Elite Two Championship (2): 1991-92, 1998–99
2nd Division (1): 1961-62
National Division 1 (1): 2008-09

References

External links

Official site

Rugby league in France

Federation	Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII

National Team	France national rugby league team List of France national rugby league team results women's

Club Competitions	Super League Championship League 1 Elite One Elite Two National Division 1 National Division 2 Lord Derby Cup Coupe Falcou Paul Dejean Cup

Super League Teams	Paris Saint-Germain Catalans Dragons

Championship Teams	Toulouse Olympique

Elite One Championship	RC Albi SO Avignon AS Carcassonne Lézignan Sangliers Limoux Grizzlies Saint-Esteve XIII Catalan Saint-Gaudens Bears Toulouse Olympique Broncos Villeneuve Leopards Palau XIII Broncos

Elite Two Championship	RC Baho XIII Carpentras XIII US Entraigues XIII US Ferrals XIII RC Lescure-Arthes XIII Lyon Villeurbanne Montpellier Red Devils Villefranche XIII Aveyron Villeghailhenc-Aragon XIII

Seasons	2002 2002–2003 2003–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–2010 2010–2011 2011–2012 2012–2013 2013–2014 2014–2015 2015–2016 2016–2017

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/18/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.