CA Brive

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French rugby union club, based in Brive-la-Gaillarde

title: "CA Brive" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ca-brive", "rugby-union-teams-in-france", "rugby-clubs-established-in-1910", "1910-establishments-in-france", "heineken-cup-champions", "sport-in-corrèze"] description: "French rugby union club, based in Brive-la-Gaillarde" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CA_Brive" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary French rugby union club, based in Brive-la-Gaillarde ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rugby team"]

Field	Value
teamname	CA Brive
image	CABriveRugbyLogo.svg
image_size	156px
fullname	Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin
nickname	Les Coujous
Les Gaillards (The Strapping Lads)
Les Noir et Blanc (The Black and Whites)
Les Zèbres (The Zebras)
location	Brive-la-Gaillarde, France
countryflag	France
founded
ground	Stade Amédée-Domenech
capacity	14,759
president	Simon Gillham
coach	Pierre Henry-Broncan
captain	Saïd Hireche
appearances	France Jean-Claude Roques (373)
top scorer	France Jean-François Thiot (1796)
most tries	France Jean-Pierre Puidebois (115)
league
season
position
url	www.cabrive-rugby.com/
pattern_la1	_CABrive2122h
pattern_b1	_CABrive2122h
pattern_ra1	_CABrive2122h
pattern_so1	_adidasrugbyblacklogo&stripes
leftarm1	000000
rightarm1	000000
shorts1	000000
socks1	FFFFFF
pattern_la2	_CABrive2122a
pattern_b2	_CABrive2122a
pattern_ra2	_CABrive2122a
pattern_so2	_adidasrugbywhitelogo&stripes
leftarm2	000000
rightarm2	000000
shorts2	000000
socks2	000000
::

Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department.

Brive is a historical member of French rugby union, being one of the clubs that spent the most seasons in the top French domestic competition. "Les Coujous" also won the Heineken Cup in 1997, defeating Leicester Tigers in the final in a 28–9 win.

Many great players, both French and foreign, played for the club currently headed by Simon Gillham, and the youth academy has a good reputation. Brive players who also on to play for France include: Amédée Domenech, nicknamed "Le Duc" ("The Duke") who played there in the 1950s and 60s, and gave his name to the stadium after his death in 2003; prolific flanker Olivier Magne, fly-halves Christophe Lamaison and Alain Penaud, number-eight Jean-Luc Joinel and hooker Michel Yachvili, the father of Dimitri Yachvili, also wore the black and white jersey.

Their home ground is the 14,759-capacity Stade Amédée-Domenech and the club colours are black and white.

History

The club was created on 15 March 1910. Before the Second World War, Brive changed from rugby union to rugby league but returned to union after the war.

It played regularly in the First Division, and established itself as the stronghold of rugby in Limousin but for many years its only title was a Second Division trophy won in 1957. Brive did not make it to the final of the First Division championship until 1965. On 23 May that year they met SU Agen at Stade de Gerland in Lyon only to lose 15–8. Brive next made it to the final in the 1972 season, where they faced AS Béziers on 21 May in Lyon again, and again the Black and White came out the losers, as Béziers won their second consecutive title (9–0). Brive met AS Béziers in the final again three season later, in 1975. By then, Béziers had become the unbeatable team of the decade, and they won their fifth title, this time by just one point (13–12), at Parc des Princes in Paris.

Brive experienced a resurgence in the middle of the 1990s, first in 1996, when they made their first finals appearance since the mid-1970s in Paris. Brive however went down 20–13 to Stade Toulousain. It was their fourth losing final. Only one club have lost more finals without winning one than them (US Dax, on five). That year however, they won the Challenge Yves du Manoir, defeating Pau 12–6. The following season, they made it to the final of the Heineken Cup where they faced the Leicester Tigers from England at Cardiff Arms Park. Brive finally won a final, defeating the Tigers 28–9. They are the only club to win the European Cup without ever winning their domestic championship.

On 22 February 1997, Brive, as European champions, were pitted against Auckland Blues who had recently won the Super 12. The French team were no competition to an extra powerful Kiwi side which won easily 47–11. In 1998 Brive again reached the final of the Heineken Cup, this time against Bath. They came close to capturing back-to-back titles, losing by just one point, 19–18 at Parc Lescure in Bordeaux.

Since then, however, the club has been in dire straits, as it was subjected to a punitive relegation to the second division in 2000 due to bad financial management. They bounced back two years later but have struggled ever since in the lower echelons of the league table, except in 2004 when they managed to qualify for the playoffs. In 2005, Brive went to the semi-finals of European Challenge Cup, but they lost to Pau. In 2009, after taking the sixth place of the Championship, the Black and White could participate in the Heineken Cup, but the competition was difficult for them, against the Europeans champions Leinster, Llanelli Scarlets and London Irish.

After difficulties and a relegation to the second division in 2012, Brive returned to the Top 14 the following year, after defeating Pau.

Honours

Heineken Cup / European Rugby Champions Cup
- Champions (1): 1997
- Runners-up (1): 1998
French championship Top 14
- Runners-up (4): 1965, 1972, 1975, 1996
Pro D2
- Champions (1): 1957
- Runners-up (2): 2013, 2019
Promotion play-offs Final/Top 14 Access Match
- Champions (2): 2012–13, 2018–19
Challenge Yves du Manoir
- Champions (1): 1996
- Runners-up (2): 1963, 1974
French Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2000

Finals results

Heineken Cup / European Rugby Champions Cup

::data[format=table]

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
25 January 1997	FRA CA Brive	28–9	ENG Leicester Tigers	Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff	41,664
31 January 1998	ENG Bath	19–18	FRA CA Brive	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	36,500
::

French championship

::data[format=table]

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
23 May 1965	SU Agen	15–8	CA Brive	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	28,758
21 May 1972	AS Béziers	9–0	CA Brive	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	31,161
18 May 1975	AS Béziers	13–12	CA Brive	Parc des Princes, Paris	39,991
1 June 1996	Stade Toulousain	20–13		CA Brive	Parc des Princes, Paris
::

Challenge Yves du Manoir

::data[format=table]

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Spectators
8 June 1963	SU Agen	11–0	CA Brive	N/A
18 May 1974	RC Narbonne	19–10	CA Brive	15,000
27 January 1996	CA Brive	12–6	Section Paloise	13,000
::

French Cup

::data[format=table]

Date	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Venue	Spectators
1 June 2000	Biarritz Olympique	24–13	CA Brive	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	17,500
::

Current standings

Current squad

The Brive squad for the 2025–26 season is:

Espoirs squad

Notable former players

The following are players who have represented their country, players who have won a title with the club, players who have played a sufficient number of games to go down in the club history or players who came from the academy and have made a significant career in another team:

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/11.09.1966.Villepreux_en_jeu_et_aux_cartes.(1966)_-53Fi4662(cropped).jpg" caption="[[Pierre Villepreux"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/AlainPenaudStadiumPic.jpg" caption="[[Alain Penaud"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Steve_thompson.JPG" caption="Steve Thompson"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Arnaud_Méla_(cropped).jpg" caption="[[Arnaud Méla"] ::

References

(1997). "Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1997–98". Headline Book Publishing.
Pope, Bruce. (23 February 1997). "Brive out with the washing". [[Independent News & Media.
Imakhoukhene, Hamid. (19 May 2013). "Brive ne l'a pas volée". [[L'Équipe]].
"Effectif".
(7 May 2024). "Brive squad for season 2024/2025". All Rugby.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::