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Stade Montois (Rugby club, Landes, France)

Flags of Stade Montois, left, official flag, right, supporter's flag - Images by Ivan Sache, 13 February 2012

Presentation of Stade Montois
Flag of Stade Montois

See also:

Presentation of Stade Montois

Stade Montois (website) is a rugby union club based in Mont-de-Marsan, the capital of the Landes region.
Founded in 1908, the Stade Montois experienced its Gilded Age in the two decades following the Second World War. The team was then famous for its "champagne rugby" and "French flair". After having lost three finals of the French championship (1949, 1953 and 1959), the Stade Montois eventually won the national championship in 1963, defeating in the final (9-6) the other main team in the Landes, US Dax.
Since the establishment of the professional championship in 1995, the club played only two seasons in the First League (2002-2003, Top 16; 2008-2009; Top 14).

The most famous players of Stade Montois were known as the "Four Musketeers". The most emblematic of the Musketeers, André "Boni" Boniface '(b. 1934) is one of the six French inductees in the International Rugby Hall of Fame (2005) and one of the seven French inductees in the IRB Hall of Fame (2011); he played 48 times for the French national team over 13 years (1954-1966, national record), including in 1954 with the team that defeated (3-0) the New Zeland All Blacks for the first time in history. His young brother Guy "The Mouse" Boniface (1937-1968) played 35 times with the national team, but the two brothers teamed only 18 times. Christian Darrouy (b. 1937) played 40 times with the national team, holding for year the record of the number of trials (23); on 25 July 1964, he scored the trial that allowed France to defeat the Springboks. The fourth Musketeer, Benoî "Le Grand Ferré" Daugat (b. 1942) played 63 times for the national team (national record for years), including in the team that won the Grand Slam in the Five Nations Championship 1968.

More recently, Thomas Castaignède (b. 1975) started his career in Stade Montois in 1993 but subsequently played for Stade Toulousain (1994-1997; national champion every year; winner of the European Cup, 1996), Castres Olympique (197-2000) and the Saracens "dream team" (2000-2007); he played 54 times with the national team, scoring 252 points and winning the Grand Slam in the Five Nations Championships back to back in 1997 and 1998. Castaignède was hired as a rugby union columnist by The Guardian in 2007-2008 (profile).

Ivan Sache, 13 February 2012

Flag of Stade Montois

The official flag of Stade Montois, hoisted in several copies over the main stand of the Guy Boniface Stadium (photo), is vertically divided yellow-black, the club's colors since its foundation.
The supporters also use the club's flag charged with the countercolored letters "S" and "M".

Ivan Sache, 13 February 2012