Castres Olympique (French pronunciation: [kastʁɔlɛ̃pik], CAST-(r)) is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the Top 14, the top level of the French league system.

Founded in 1898, the club took its current name in 1906. They play at the Stade Pierre-Fabre, which is one of the smallest in Top 14 with a capacity of 12,500. The team wear blue and white kits.

The team won five French top-division championships in 1949, 1950, 1993 (in a match decided by an irregular try accorded by the referee), 2013, and 2018 as well as one Coupe de France in 1948.

History

In 1898 several alumni of Castres' municipal college met in a city centre bar and decided to create a team allowing them to play their favourite sport, rugby union. For the first few years this team was part of a multisport club until 1906. Unhappy with the dominating position cycling had within the club, the members of the rugby section decided to leave and create a club of their own, solely dedicated to their sport. It was decided that this club would be named Castres Olympique and its colours would be changed from yellow and black to its current blue, white and grey.

The new club reached the top flight after only 15 years of existence and has remained there ever since, bar for a couple of years during the 80s when the club was in the then Section B of the 1st division. The club has never left the 1st division since 1921.

For a while Castres Olympique would experience mixed fortunes until 1948 when they reached and won their first Coupe de France. The prestigious championship would follow a year later, and again in 1950.

From the 1960s the club would experience a stream of mediocre seasons and steady decline until Pierre Fabre, the founder of a local pharmaceutical company, decided to take over the club and restore it to its former relative glory in 1988.

In 1993, Castres played the final of the 1993 French Rugby Union Championship against Grenoble, a team who was nicknamed "the mammoths", because of its incredibly physical forward pack, coached by the former French national team manager Jacques Fouroux. Castres won its third national title 14–11, in a controversial match. Indeed, a try of Olivier Brouzet is denied to Grenoble and the decisive try by Gary Whetton was awarded by the referee, Daniel Salles, when in fact the defender Franck Hueber from Grenoble touched down the ball first in his try zone. This error gave the title to Castres. Salles admitted the error 13 years later.

Jacques Fouroux, being already suspicious before the match of the referee, saw in this outcome a conspiracy of his enemies from inside the rugby union French Federation.

The club reached the final again in 1995 losing 31–16 to Stade Toulousain.

Castres won the 2012–13 French Rugby Union Championship beating Toulon 19–14 in the final.

The team's owner, Pierre Fabre, the founder of Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, died on 20 July 2013. Castres home stadium, previously known as Stade Pierre-Antoine, was renamed in his memory during ceremonies in conjunction with Castres match with Montpellier on 9 September 2017.

Castres won the 2017–18 French Rugby Union Championship beating Montpellier 29–13 in the final.

After finishing first in the 2021-2022 Top 14, Castres played a semi-final against the Stade Toulousain of Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, beating them 24–18. The final is a rematch of 2018, but this time, Montpellier win 29–10.

Honours

Finals results

French championship

DateWinnersScoreRunners-upVenueSpectators
22 May 1949Castres Olympique14–3Stade MontoisStade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse23,000
16 April 1950Castres Olympique11–8Racing Club de FranceStade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse25,000
5 June 1993Castres Olympique14–11FC GrenobleParc des Princes, Paris48,000
6 May 1995Stade Toulousain31–16Castres OlympiqueParc des Princes, Paris48,615
1 June 2013Castres Olympique19–14RC ToulonStade de France, Saint-Denis80,033
31 May 2014RC Toulon18–10Castres OlympiqueStade de France, Saint-Denis80,174
2 June 2018Castres Olympique29–13MontpellierStade de France, Saint-Denis78,441
24 June 2022Montpellier29–10Castres OlympiqueStade de France, Saint-Denis78,245

European Rugby Challenge Cup

DateWinnersScoreRunners-upVenueSpectators
26 January 1997France Bourgoin18–9France Castres OlympiqueStade de la Méditerranée, Béziers10,000
28 May 2000France Section Paloise34–21France Castres OlympiqueStade Ernest-Wallon, Toulouse6,000

European Shield

DateWinnersScoreRunners-upVenueSpectators
25 May 2003France Castres Olympique40–12Wales CaerphillyMadejski Stadium, Reading4,000

Current standings

2025–26 Top 14 Table
PosTeamvtePldWDLPFPAPDTFTATBLBPtsQualification
1Toulouse261808981617+3641347313386Qualification for playoff semi-finals and European Rugby Champions Cup
2Montpellier261718824587+237101698482
3Stade Français2615110869664+2051138311679Qualification for playoff semi-final qualifiers and European Rugby Champions Cup
4Pau261709817665+15298827378
5Racing 92261619828723+105101916274
6La Rochelle2615011824634+190106738472
7Clermont2615011812708+104103878371Qualification for European Rugby Champions Cup
8Bordeaux Bègles2614012822719+103113908670
9Toulon2612113714820−106961038159Qualification for European Rugby Challenge Cup
10Castres2611015660751−9181963855
11Lyon2611114734774−40921013352
12Bayonne2611015747869−122941134351
13Perpignan266020550797−24764991429Qualification for relegation play-off
14Montauban2611244951349−85461197017Relegation to Pro D2

Current squad

The Castres squad for the 2025–26 season is:

Castres Olympique 2025–26 Top 14 squad
Props France national rugby union team Aurélien Azar Georgia national rugby union team Levan Chilachava England national rugby union team Will Collier France national rugby union team Nicolas Corato France national rugby union team Lois Guérois-Galisson France national rugby union team Antoine Tichit France national rugby union team Quentin Walcker Hookers France national rugby union team Pierre Colonna France national rugby union team Teddy Durand Italy national rugby union team Loris Zarantonello Locks France national rugby union team Guillaume Ducat France national rugby union team Paul Jedrasiak France national rugby union team Gauthier Maravat Fiji national rugby union team Leone Nakarawa France national rugby union team Tom Staniforth France national rugby union team Florent VanverbergheBack row Canada national rugby union team Tyler Ardron France national rugby union team Mathieu Babillot (c) France national rugby union team Baptiste Cope France national rugby union team Baptiste Delaporte France national rugby union team Romain Macurdy France national rugby union team Simon Meka New Zealand national rugby union team Abraham Papali'i Fiji national rugby union team Veresa Ramototabua France national rugby union team Feibyan Tukino Scrum-halves Uruguay national rugby union team Santiago Arata France national rugby union team Gauthier Doubrère France national rugby union team Jérémy Fernandez Fly-halves France national rugby union team Enzo Hervé France national rugby union team Louis Le Brun France national rugby union team Pierre PopelinCentres Fiji national rugby union team Vilimoni Botitu Fiji national rugby union team Adrea Cocagi New Zealand national rugby union team Jack Goodhue France national rugby union team Adrien Séguret Wings Cameroon national rugby union team Christian Ambadiang France national rugby union team Rémy Baget France national rugby union team Nathanaël Hulleu Fiji national rugby union team Vuate Karawalevu France national rugby union team Adam Vargas Fullbacks France national rugby union team Théo Chabouni France national rugby union team Geoffrey Palis
(c) denotes the team captain. Bold denotes internationally capped players.Source:

Espoirs squad

Castres Olympique 2025–26 Espoirs squad
Props France national rugby union team Noah Cuynet France national rugby union team Ethan Duthil Georgia national rugby union team Mate Gurtskaia France national rugby union team Gabin Issaly New Zealand national rugby union team Kingbenjamin Swerling-Finaipepe Georgia national rugby union team Giorgi Turashvili France national rugby union team Gabin Waterlot Hookers France national rugby union team Lukas Mitu France national rugby union team Enzo Saint-Cyr Aguilar Locks France national rugby union team Nolhan Cassez Russia national rugby union team Alexey KonnovBack row France national rugby union team Marius Audemar-Ghion France national rugby union team Robin Boyer France national rugby union team Kevin Diaz France national rugby union team Kérian El Bahroui-Missonnier Belgium national rugby union team Remi Loop France national rugby union team Enzo Loubet France national rugby union team Nael Salhi Fiji national rugby union team Atunaisa Sokobale Scrum-halves France national rugby union team Colin Dupuy France national rugby union team Timeo Gillouin-Lemaire Fly-halves France national rugby union team Louis Bothorel France national rugby union team Gabin Galy France national rugby union team Louka GuilhotCentres France national rugby union team Clement Barthes France national rugby union team Alfred Mouandjo France national rugby union team Pierre Ourtand-Cren Wings France national rugby union team Alban Collin France national rugby union team Melvin Corpel France national rugby union team Nolan Promeneur France national rugby union team Gautier Sarraute Fullbacks France national rugby union team Mathys Falguera
Source:

Notable former players

See also

External links

  • (in French)