Narbonne

Narbonne begin the 2025–2026 season in Nationale, France's third tier. Relegation from Pro D2 in 2022, lost on a playoff, followed an earlier drop from the Top 14 in 2007, and the descent has coincided with a reckoning at boardroom level: in March 2025 former president Rocky Elsom, part of the Australian consortium that took control of the club in 2012 after it nearly folded under debt, was sentenced to two years in prison for misusing company assets.

None of that squares with what the shield still says. RC Narbonne won the Bouclier de Brennus twice, in 1936 against AS Montferrand and in 1979 against Stade Bagnérais, and no French club has collected more Challenge Yves du Manoir titles than its nine, won between 1968 and 1991. A run to the European Challenge Cup final in 2001, lost to Harlequins.

The player most associated with that era is Walter Spanghero, capped 51 times for France between 1964 and 1973 and a member of the 1968 Grand Slam side; the Spanghero name recurs through the club's history via his brothers Jean-Marie and Claude. Jo Maso, capped 25 times, was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame in 2003.

The rivalry with USAP, contested as the Derby du Sud. Narbonne itself traces back to a 1907 merger of the town's Sporting Club with the sports section of the 80th Infantry Regiment.