Rugby Club Luxembourg

Rugby Club Luxembourg
Full name Rugby Club Luxembourg
Union Luxembourg Rugby Federation
Founded 1973
Location Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Ground(s) Stade Boy Konen
President Luxembourg Steve Karier [1]
Coach(es) England Stuart Kelly [2]
Captain(s) France Paul Remedi
League(s) Rugby-Bundesliga (I)
2015–16 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga Champions (promoted)
Team kit
Official website
www.rcl.lu

Rugby Club Luxembourg, abbreviated to RCL, is a rugby union club, based in Cessange, Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. Luxembourg has no domestic league of its own, so RCL plays in neighbouring countries' leagues; they most recently played in the German Rugby-Bundesliga, having previously competed in the Belgian and French National Leagues.

The club has grown rapidly in recent years, and now has 300 members.[1] Based at Stade Boy Konen, in Cessange, the club is looking to expand to two or three pitches to relieve excessive usage of Boy Konen.[1] The club is widely held in regard as the premier club in Luxembourg having never lost the Luxembourg Cup, and continues to be the primary source of players for the Luxembourg national rugby union team.

History

Founded in May 1973, RCL was the first Luxembourgian rugby club, established by a group of British expatriates working in Luxembourg City. The club consisted then and still does today of a mixture of nationalities, cultures, creeds, languages : Belgian, French, English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Australian, South African, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Dutch, Italian, Fijian, Norwegian, Luxembourgish, American, New Zealander, Venezuelan, and Argentinian.[3]

The club played its first competitive game against US Castillionnaise in September 1973. Up until 1995, the club played in the Alsace-Lorraine regional league. In that year, the team joined the Belgian second division, which it belonged to until 1998, when it earned promotion to the first division.[4]

In 2001, the club decided to return to the French league system, again playing regionally in Alsace-Lorraine. It won its division in 2008 but, after an invitation to play in Germany, decided to join the German league system in 2009.[4]

The inclusion of RCL in the 2009 promotion round to the 2nd Bundesliga caused some debate in regards to its legality, as the club had not qualified through the German league system and was not a member of any of the German regional rugby federations. However, RC Luxembourg's application was declared valid in regards to the German rugby federations rules and regulations and the team finished second in the promotion round, earning a place in the 2nd Bundesliga for 2009-10.[5]

The club has recently recruited several local sportsmen from other sports, including Stéphane Gillet, former Luxembourg national football team goalkeeper, as a back row.[1] Prince Sébastien plays for the club's under-20 team, and Grand Duke Henri has visited the club to watch his youngest son play.[6]

A league reform in 2012 allowed the club promotion to the Bundesliga after the league was expanded from ten to 24 teams. RCL finished fifth in their group in the 2012-13 season and failed to qualify for the championship round, instead entering the second tier DRV-Pokal, but eventually withdrawing from the competition in October 2012. The club's reserve team however continued to play in Germany, competing in the fourth tier Regionalliga.[7] The team competed in the tier three 3. Liga in 2013–14 and won its division and the competition with a finals victory over TGS Hausen, earning promotion to the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga.

In the 2014–15 season the club finished first in the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West & 3rd in the south-west DRV-Pokal group and was knocked out by RC Leipzig in the quarter finals of the play-offs after a first round victory over Veltener RC. The club won the western division of the 2. Bundesliga in 2015–16 and, after play-off victories over StuSta Munchen and München RFC, won its division and the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga Championship for the first time in the clubs history, securing promotion to the Rugby-Bundesliga.

Results in the German League

Recent seasons of the club:[8]

Year Division Tier Position
2009–10 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West II 3rd
2010–11 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West II 2nd
2011–12 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West II 3rd — Promoted
2012–13 Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – South I 6th
DRV-Pokal – South-West II withdrawn
2013–14 3rd Liga South/West — West division III Champions
2014–15 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga qualification round – West II 1st
DRV-Pokal – South-West 3rd — Quarter finals
2015–16 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga II Champions – Promoted

2012-13 Squad

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Player Position Union
Roshan Vishwanath Prop India India
Ryan Shakespeare Prop England England
Luc Reyter Prop Luxembourg Luxembourg
Roman Zasadny Prop Croatia Croatia
Philip Barnard Prop South Africa South Africa
Conor Bready Prop Ireland Ireland
Stéphane Gillet Lock Luxembourg Luxembourg
Scott McKinlay Lock Scotland Scotland
Richard Marsden Lock England England
Jeremy Ferre Lock France France
Jean-Valére Hamet Lock France France
Pierre Diot Back row France France
Christian Feuerer Back row Germany Germany
Eruera Shelford Back row New Zealand New Zealand
Jean-Baptiste Vert Back row France France
Paul Remedi Back row France France
Rudolf O'Kane Back row France France
El Hadji Malick Samba Back row Senegal Senegal
Barthelemy Leroy Back row France France
Alexandre Houdain Back row France France
Francois Simon Back row France France
Player Position Union
William Dennis Scrum-half England England
Mattheiu Hommell Scrum-half France France
Stuart Kidd Fly-half New Zealand New Zealand
Francisco Tolomei Fly-half Argentina Argentina
Peter Hartmann Centre Germany Germany
Tertius Barnard Centre South Africa South Africa
Matthieu Poisson Centre France France
Maxime Dozin Centre Belgium Belgium
Stephane Decaris Wing Germany Germany
Philippe Vimond Wing France France
Cristian Barbu Wing Romania Romania
Robin Dex Wing Germany Germany
Dario Agostino Pale Wing Italy Italy
Jean-Frédéric Bermon Wing France France
Alexander Goodhew Fullback England England
James Clarke Fullback England England
Julien Carpe Fullback France France
Stuart Logier Fullback France France
Bruno Lequex Fullback France France

Past Seasons

2012-13 Season

Following three top 3 finishes in the Bundesliga division 2 (South and West), a league reorganisation saw the 1st team being moved up into the Bundesliga 1 where the team struggled with the overall condition, size and skill of the teams they were up against, many of which are semi-professional. The players competed well but were a level below. As a result, the club management decided to withdraw the 1st team from the league.[9]

2011-12 Season

The club in the 2011-2012 season underwent a rebuilding phase following the departure of 12 starting 1st team players from the previous season, for various reasons. Enda Horan, previously the 2nd team coach, stepped up following the sudden departure of the previous coach, and in line with the desired direction of the club management, worked on creating a club mentality and instilling competition for 1st team spots with the 2nd team acting as a joint development side and a means for aspiring 1st team players to prove themselves. With only one coach in charge and many missing players, the season began very poorly by RCL standards with many of the 2nd team players from the previous season filling in the vacuum left by the departed players, and struggling to cope with the step up. Several new arrivals bolstered the player numbers, most notably Michael Cawley on placement from University College Dublin, who shortly after joining was identified by Horan as being the perfect man to lead the team as captain. With the increased player base and increased squad fitness, the standard of play grew again and some positives victories were recorded. Unfortunately Cawley was injured against TSV Handschuhsheim II and was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season, as such club and international veteran Stuart Kelly took over the captaincy.

2010-11 Season

See also

Clubs

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Rugby's unstoppable rise in Luxembourg". Luxemburger Wort. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "RRCL Announces Vert as New Club Captain". Chronicle.lu. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  3. ↑ RCL Official website
  4. 1 2 RCL - a potted history RCL website, accessed: 8 April 2010
  5. ↑ Karlsruhe und Luxemburg steigen in die 2.Liga Süd auf (German) totalrugby.de, published: 6 July 2009, accessed: 19 March 2010
  6. ↑ "Royalty muck in at sevens tournament". Luxemburger Wort. 27 June 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  7. ↑ DRV-Pokal: Luxemburg zieht zurück (German) totalrugby.de, published: 18 October 2012, accessed: 9 May 2013
  8. ↑ RugbyWeb Ergebnisarchiv (German) rugbyweb.de - Results archive, accessed: 24 July 2012
  9. ↑ "RCL Rebuilding After German League Withdrawal". Chronicle.lu. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  10. ↑ "RCL tackles 40 years". Delano.lu. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  11. ↑ "RCL black tie soiree". Luxemburger Wort. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
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