USA Perpignan (or Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais to give them their full title) are one of France’s most historic rugby union clubs. They currently play in the Pro D2, which is France’s second tier of rugby. However, the side have been crowned as the champions of France on seven occasions and have been the runners-up in the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Follow Perpignan Rugby’s quest to return to the Top 14 with RugbyPass. On this page, you’ll find all of the latest Perpignan Rugby news and you’ll be able to see the team’s most recent results and upcoming fixtures.
French rugby's second division dwarfs the Championship in England both in terms of revenue and crowd numbers but there are still concerns of the widening gulf between the ProD2 and the Top 14
France star Melvyn Jaminet is set to leave his Perpignan contract early, after requesting a release from the club.
USA Perpignan (or Union Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais to give them their full title) are one of France’s most historic rugby union clubs. They currently play in the Pro D2, which is France’s second tier of rugby. However, the side have been crowned as the champions of France on seven occasions and have been the runners-up in the European Rugby Champions Cup.
Follow Perpignan Rugby’s quest to return to the Top 14 with RugbyPass. On this page, you’ll find all of the latest Perpignan Rugby news and you’ll be able to see the team’s most recent results and upcoming fixtures.
The Perpignan Rugby Club was founded way back in 1902. Back then, the club was known as AS Perpignan. But, the team have been known by many different names over the years. In 1919, they were renamed as US Perpignan, and they adopted their current name in 1933.
In their early days, the Perpignan Rugby team were highly successful. In 1914, they won their first ever French Championship. In the next decade or so, they regularly featured in the final. During this period, they were crowned as the champions of France on another two occasions (1921 and 1925) and finished as the runners-up twice (1924 and 1926). However, the side’s appearance in the 1926 final was their last for nearly a decade.
That said, the Perpignan Rugby side were still highly successful in the 1930s. They only won the French Championship once in the decade (1938), but they appeared in the final on another two occasions (1935 and 1939) and won the Challenge Yves du Manoir for the first time ever in 1935.
Throughout the rest of rugby’s amateur era, the Perpignan Rugby team were intermittently successful, and they won the French Championship on another two occasions (1944 and 1955). However, they did reach the final again at the start of the professional era in 1998, when they lost against Stade Français. They also faced the same fate in 2004, when they lost to the same opposition.
Throughout rugby’s professional era, the Perpignan Rugby side have been less successful. However, they did win the 2008-09 edition of the Top 14 and were crowned as the champions of France once again. Similarly, the team have also enjoyed some glorious moments on the European stage. For example, in 2003, they reached the final of the Heineken Cup (now the European Rugby Champions Cup). Sadly though, they lost a close game against Toulouse. Unfortunately, this means they’ve never lifted Europe’s most prized rugby union trophy.
Sadly, since finishing as the Top 14 runners-up in 2010, the Perpignan Rugby team have been in a downward spiral and they’ve regularly yo-yoed between the Top 14 and the Pro D2 in recent years. After being relegated from the Top 14 in the 2018-19 season, the side now plays in Pro D2.
