Colomiers

Colomiers sit in Pro D2 these days.

That run came in the late 1990s. In 1998 Colomiers beat Agen 43–5 to win the European Challenge Cup, then went a step further the following season, reaching the Heineken Cup final before losing to Ulster. In 2000 they were beaten again in the Top 14 final, this time by Stade Français. The Bouclier de Brennus itself has never come to Colomiers.

What followed was harder: relegation from the Top 14 in 2001, financial trouble that forced the club down again in 2004, then a pattern of promotion and relegation through Pro D2 and Fédérale 1, where they won the title three times before finally settling in the second tier. The Stade Michel-Bendichou, renamed in 2004, carries the name of the president who had steered the club through its best years.

The rivalry with Stade Toulousain still gives the season its sharpest fixture, the Derby Toulousain.

Few who passed through Colomiers are remembered like Fabien Galthié. He played there from 1985 to 2001, through the Challenge Cup win and the Heineken Cup final, before going on to captain and later coach the France national team.