Aviron Bayonnais

Aviron Bayonnais
Full name	Aviron Bayonnais Rugby Pro
Nickname(s)	L'Aviron (The Rowing Club); Les Ciel et Blanc (The Sky Blue and Whites)
Founded	1906; 118 years ago
Location	Bayonne, France
Ground(s)	Stade Jean-Dauger (Capacity: 14,370)
President	Philippe Tayeb
Coach(es)	Grégory Patat
Captain(s)	Denis Marchois
League(s)	Top 14
2023–24	12th
Team kit	2nd kit
Official website
	[[1] www.abrugby.fr/%20abrugby.fr]]

Aviron Bayonnais (AB, Basque: Baionako Arrauna), commonly called Bayonne, is a French rugby union club from Bayonne (Baiona, in Basque) in Pyrénées-Atlantiques which, for the 2016-17 season, competed in the top tier of the French league system, in the Top 14 competition. In the 2015–16 Pro D2 Season they were promoted after finishing 2nd and winning the playoff final against Aurillac. In the 2016-2017 season, they finished in last place, and will be relegated back to Pro D2 for the 2017-18 season. Founded in 1904, they play at the Parc des Sports also known as Stade Jean-Dauger in Bayonne. Their mascot is a pottok pony called pottoka. They have ties to the French Basque community.

History

The club was established in 1904, making their first final appearance in the 1913 season, where they defeated S.C.U.F. 31-8 at the Stade Yves-du-Manoir. The national domestic championship was replaced by the Coupe de l'Espérance during World War I. The competition was played for four seasons, with Aviron Bayonnais contesting the last final, which they lost to Stadoceste Tarbais 4 to 3.

With the French championship resumed, the club made their next championship game in the 1922 season where they met Toulouse. Aviron Bayonnais lost the final 6 to nil. The two clubs would meet again the next season to again contest the championship final, which Toulouse won again, 3 to nil.

Aviron Bayonnais enjoyed success during the mid-1930s, defeating Biarritz 13 to 8 in Toulouse to win their second championship, and first since 1913. They also won the Challenge Yves du Manoir in 1936, defeating Perpignan in the final. The club saw similar results during the mid-1940s as well, with two championship final appearances; defeating SU Agen in the 1943 final at Parc des Princes in Paris and losing the 1944 season final to Perpignan.

Since the 1940s the club did not find a lot of success over the coming years, as they would have to wait until the 1980s until they would again reach any of the championship finals. In 1980 they contested the final of the Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating AS Béziers 16 to 10 to gain their second title of that competition. They made it to the final of the 1982 season, although they were defeated by SU Agen, 18 to 9.

Aviron Bayonnais was relegated to the Group A2 in 1996, where it spent eight seasons. The team was promoted to the Top 16/14 in 2004, remaining there for 11 consecutive seasons. The team was relegated to the Pro D2 in 2015, and has been a yo-yo club since then.

Honours

French championship Top 14
- Champions (3): 1913, 1934, 1943
- Runners-up (4): 1922, 1923, 1944, 1982
Pro D2
- Champions (2): 2019, 2022
Challenge Yves du Manoir
- Champions (2): 1936, 1980
Coupe de l'Espérance
- Runners-up: 1919

Finals results

French championship

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
20 April 1913	Aviron Bayonnais	31-8	S.C.U.F.	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	20.000
23 April 1922	Stade Toulousain	6-0	Aviron Bayonnais	Route du Médoc, Le Bouscat	20.000
13 May 1923	Stade Toulousain	3-0	Aviron Bayonnais	Stade Yves-du-Manoir, Colombes	15.000
13 May 1934	Aviron Bayonnais	13-8	Biarritz Olympique	Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse	18.000
21 March 1943	Aviron Bayonnais	3-0	SU Agen	Parc des Princes, Paris	28.000
26 March 1944	USA Perpignan	20-5	Aviron Bayonnais	Parc des Princes, Paris	35.000
29 May 1982	SU Agen	18-9	Aviron Bayonnais	Parc des Princes, Paris	41.165

Challenge Yves du Manoir

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up
1936	Aviron Bayonnais	9-3	USA Perpignan
1980	Aviron Bayonnais	16-10	AS Béziers

Coupe de l'Espérance

Date	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1919	Stadoceste Tarbais	4-3	Aviron Bayonnais

Current standings

2023–24 Top 14 Table
Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Toulouse (Q)	26	16	1	9	765	592	+173	103	72	7	3	76	Playoffs and Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup
2	Stade Français (Q)	26	17	1	8	539	511	+28	57	49	4	1	75
3	Bordeaux Bègles (Q)	26	15	0	11	677	558	+119	80	66	5	4	69
4	Toulon (Q)	26	15	0	11	704	519	+185	72	58	5	4	69
5	La Rochelle (Q)	26	13	1	12	595	496	+99	69	49	5	7	66
6	Racing 92 (Q)	26	13	0	13	622	546	+76	79	56	5	5	62
7	Castres	26	13	0	13	643	642	+1	69	77	4	6	62	Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup
8	Clermont	26	12	2	12	621	671	−50	74	78	6	3	61	Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Champions Cup
9	Pau	26	13	0	13	630	609	+21	68	72	3	5	60	Qualification for 2024–25 European Rugby Challenge Cup
10	Perpignan	26	13	0	13	634	701	−67	80	85	5	1	58
11	Lyon	26	12	0	14	630	754	−124	72	90	5	2	55
12	Bayonne	26	11	0	15	572	669	−97	65	77	2	6	52
13	Montpellier (Q)	26	9	0	17	542	655	−113	61	79	1	7	44	Qualification for Relegation play-off
14	Oyonnax (R)	26	7	1	18	539	790	−251	58	99	0	4	34	Relegation to Pro D2

Updated to match(es) played on 18 May 2024. Source: Top 14
(Q) Qualified for the playoffs; (R) Relegated

Current squad

The Bayonne squad for the 2023–24 season is:^[1]^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player	Position	Union
Facundo Bosch	Hooker	Argentina
Vincent Giudicelli	Hooker	France
Lucas Martin	Hooker	France
Louis Ortolan	Hooker	France
Quentin Béthune	Prop	France
Andy Bordelai	Prop	France
Swan Cormenier	Prop	France
Pascal Cotet	Prop	France
Pieter Scholtz	Prop	South Africa
Luke Tagi	Prop	Fiji
Tevita Tatafu	Prop	Tonga
Denis Marchois	Lock	France
Alex Moon	Lock	England
Lucas Paulos	Lock	Argentina
Veikoso Poloniati	Lock	Tonga
Rémi Bourdeau	Back row	France
Rodrigo Bruni	Back row	Argentina
Uzair Cassiem	Back row	South Africa
Robin Dioné	Back row	France
Giovanni Habel-Kueffner	Back row	Samoa
Baptiste Héguy	Back row	France
Aitor Hourcade	Back row	France
Arthur Iturria	Back row	France

Player	Position	Union
Maxime Machenaud	Scrum-half	France
Guillaume Rouet	Scrum-half	Spain
Camille Lopez	Fly-half	France
Joris Segonds	Fly-half	France
Reece Hodge	Centre	Australia
Sireli Maqala	Centre	Fiji
Guillaume Martocq	Centre	France
Federico Mori	Centre	Italy
Manu Tuilagi	Centre	England
Aurélien Callandret	Wing	France
Mateo Carreras	Wing	Argentina
Arnaud Erbinartegaray	Wing	France
Nadir Megdoud	Wing	France
Gaëtan Germain	Fullback	France
Tom Spring	Fullback	France
Cheikh Tiberghien	Fullback	France

Espoirs squad