CS Bourgoin-Jallieu

Bourgoin-Jallieu sits east of Lyon in Isère, the kind of industrial town where a rugby side becomes the thing people from Lyon and beyond learn its name for. CS Bourgoin-Jallieu started life as Club Sportif Bergusien, and its colours came from an unlikely source: an English student from Birmingham, an Aston Villa supporter, whose influence in 1906 left the club wearing sky blue and garnet, the pairing that gave rise to the nickname Les Ciel et Grenat. Locals also call the side Les Berjalliens, after the town itself.

The club's peak came in 1997, when it beat Castres Olympique 18–9 to win the inaugural European Challenge Cup. That same year it reached the French Championship final, losing to Toulouse, and the Coupe de France final, losing to Section Paloise — a run that marked the high point of what people at the club still call its golden age. A second Coupe de France final followed in 1999, lost to Stade Français, and further final defeats came against La Rochelle and Castres in 2003.

What came after showed how quickly a club built on a small town's support can unravel. Twenty-seven straight seasons in the Top 14 ended, and a debt of nearly €2 million in 2009 was only cleared with help from local politicians. Relegation to Pro D2 in 2011 reopened the financial strain, the professional section was dissolved the following year, and in May 2017 the commercial court of Vienne ordered the club's liquidation. It has rebuilt from there and now plays in Nationale, the third tier, at the Stade Pierre Rajon.

The club's derby with FC Grenoble, contested as the Derby Isérois, has carried that local rivalry for decades. Among the internationals it produced, Sébastien Chabal is the name Bourgoin-Jallieu is remembered for above the rest — a forward whose reputation grew here before he carried it onto the biggest stages in French rugby.