Section Paloise
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| Full name | Section Paloise Béarn Pyrénées | ||
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| Founded | 1902 | ||
| Location | Pau, France | ||
| Ground(s) | Stade du Hameau (Capacity: 18,324) | ||
| President | Bernard Pontneau | ||
| Coach(es) | Simon Mannix | ||
| League(s) | Top 14 | ||
| 2017–18 | 8th | ||
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| Official website | |||
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www | |||
Section Paloise Béarn Pyrénées [sɛk.sjɔ̃ pa.lwaz be.aʁn pi.ʁe.ne], commonly called Pau [po], is a French rugby union club from Pau in Pyrénées-Atlantiques competing in Top 14, the highest level of the French league system. They most recently earned promotion by winning the championship of the second-level Rugby Pro D2 in 2015, nine years after having been relegated from the top flight.[1]
History
They were founded in 1902 as Section Paloise de la Ligue Girondine before adopting their current name in 1905, which refers to the ancient region of Béarn and to the Pyrenees mountains. Section Paloise first joined the French first division in 1911, and were crowned champions for the first time in 1928. "La Section" have won the French Championship on three occasions, the last being in 1964. They have, however, reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup and Top 14 as recently as 1998 and 2000, respectively. Section Paloise also added to their trophy case in 2000, winning the European Challenge Cup. At the end of the 2004–05 season, "La Section" survived a play-off game with Aurillac to remain in the Top 16. However, they were relegated the following season, and would remain in Pro D2 until earning promotion for the 2015–16 season. The club colors are green and white and their home ground is the Stade du Hameau (capacity 18,324). They are sponsored by French petroleum company Total.
Recent France internationals Imanol Harinordoquy, Damien Traille, and Lionel Beauxis began their professional club careers with Section Paloise.
Club honours
- French premiership
- Champions: 1928, 1946, 1964
- Challenge Yves du Manoir
- Champions: 1939, 1952, 1997
- European Challenge Cup
- Champions: 2000
- Rugby Pro D2
- Champions: 2015
Finals results
French championship
| Date | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Venue | Attendance |
| 6 May 1928 | Section Paloise | US Quillan | 6-4 | Stade des Ponts Jumeaux, Toulouse | 20.000 |
| 24 March 1946 | Section Paloise | FC Lourdes | 11-0 | Parc des Princes, Paris | 30.000 |
| 24 May 1964 | Section Paloise | AS Béziers | 14-0 | Stade Municipal, Toulouse | 27.797 |
Challenge Cup
| Date | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Venue | Attendance |
| 27 May 2000 | Section Paloise | Castres Olympique | 34-21 | Stade des Sept Deniers, Toulouse | 6.000 |
| 21 May 2005 | Sale Sharks | Section Paloise | 27-3 | Kassam Stadium, Oxford | 7.230 |
Pro D2 promotion playoffs
| Date | Winner | Runner-up | Score | Venue | Attendance |
| 27 May 2012 | Stade Montois | Section Paloise | 29–20 | Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux | 23,928 |
Current standings
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| Club | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points For | Points Against | Points Diff. | Tries For | Tries Against | Try Bonus | Losing Bonus | Points | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clermont | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 235 | 130 | +105 | 27 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 25 | ||||
| 2 | Stade Français | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 178 | 114 | +64 | 19 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 23 | ||||
| 3 | Lyon | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 175 | 113 | +62 | 18 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 21 | ||||
| 4 | Montpellier | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 196 | 155 | +41 | 24 | 19 | 1 | 1 | 20 | ||||
| 5 | Castres | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 146 | 140 | +6 | 14 | 15 | 1 | 2 | 19 | ||||
| 6 | Toulouse | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 149 | 171 | –22 | 17 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 19 | ||||
| 7 | Racing | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 175 | 132 | +43 | 21 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 18 | ||||
| 8 | Bordeaux Bègles | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 157 | 139 | +18 | 16 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 17 | ||||
| 9 | La Rochelle | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 173 | 159 | +14 | 23 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 17 | ||||
| 10 | Pau | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 139 | 158 | –19 | 12 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 17 | ||||
| 11 | Grenoble | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 140 | 185 | –45 | 11 | 23 | 0 | 3 | 10 | ||||
| 12 | Toulon | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 115 | 169 | –54 | 14 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 9 | ||||
| 13 | Agen | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 105 | 237 | –132 | 10 | 32 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||||
| 14 | Perpignan | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 115 | 196 | –81 | 11 | 19 | 0 | 4 | 4 | ||||
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If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
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| Green background (rows 1 and 2) receive semi-final play-off places and receive berths in the 2019–20 European Rugby Champions Cup. Blue background (rows 3 to 6) receive quarter-final play-off places, and receive berths in the Champions Cup. Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2019–20 European Rugby Challenge Cup. Pink background (row 13) will qualify to the Relegation play-offs. Red background (row 14) will automatically be relegated to Rugby Pro D2. Final table — source: | |||||||||||||||||
Current squad
The Pau squad for the 2018–19 season is:[2]
Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.
Notable former players
See also
References
- ↑ "PRO D2, J27 - Pau – Montauban : la Section retrouve l'élite" (Press release). Ligue nationale de rugby. 11 April 2015. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
- ↑ "Effectif". Section Paloise (in French). Retrieved 8 August 2018.
External links
- (in French) Section Paloise Official website