Brive

Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, known more commonly as Brive Rugby or CA Brive, are a French rugby union team that compete in the Top 14, the top level of rugby union in France.

Although it may feel like the glory years are behind Brive Rugby, the side did gain promotion to the Top 14 in the 2018-19 season and the team will now be looking to build on their successes. On this page, you'll find all the latest news from Brive Rugby. You can also see the team's latest results and upcoming fixtures.

Brive Rugby Club was first created in 1910, but it wasn't formally established until 1912. In the club's early days, the side also switched codes. Although it was first formed as a rugby union club, Brive Rugby Club did briefly play rugby league between the First and Second World Wars. However, after the Second World War was over, the team returned to playing rugby union.

In the post-war years, the Brive Rugby team established themselves as one of the top sides in France. However, for many years, the team only held one piece of silverware: the second division title in 1957.

In the years that followed, Brive were the bridesmaids but never the bride. After all, Brive Rugby made it to the French championship final on several occasions, but they repeatedly fell short at the final hurdle. In 1965, they lost to SU Agen in a hard-fought encounter. Then, throughout the 1970s, Brive Rugby came up against an unassailable AS Béziers side who beat them in the final on two occasions. However, there was certainly no shame in this. When AS Béziers beat Brive Rugby in the 1975 final, it marked the side's fourth title in five years.

The next couple of decades were fallow years for Brive Rugby, but the side underwent a resurgence in the 1990s. In 1996, the team reached their first French championship final in more than 20 years. However, they lost against Stade Toulousain in a close encounter.

It was much better news for Brive Rugby in cup competitions in that era though. In 1996, the side won the Challenge Yves du Manoir and, a year later, they triumphed in the Heineken Cup (now the European Rugby Champions Cup). They also reached the Heineken Cup final a year later, but lost against Bath by a single point.

Since the turn of the century, Brive Rugby have only reached one major final. But, following their loss in the 2000 Coupe de France final, the club has been in dire straits. After all, in the same year, the club was subjected to a punitive relegation to the second division due to bad financial management. Ever since, the club has flipped between the Top 14 and the Pro D2. However, the club has still experienced several successful seasons. For example, in 2005 and 2012, Brive Rugby went to the semi-finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup.