# 1959–60 French Rugby Union Championship

The 1958–59 French Rugby Union Championship was contested by 56 clubs divided in seven pools of eight clubs.
The four better of each pool and the four better classified as 5th (for a sum of 32 clubs) were qualified for the final phase.
The Championship was won by Lourdes who beat the Béziers in the final.

## Context

The 1960 Five Nations Championship was won by France and by Ireland.
The Challenge Yves du Manoir was won by Mont-de-Marsan that beat the Béziers (9-9 the score but Mont de Maresan won for the number of tries scored)

## Qualification round

In bold the qualified to "last 32" phase
| Poule A Limoges Castres Touloun Tulle Racing Carmaux Lavelanet Montferrand | Poule B Dijon Bayonne Saint-Claude Agen Mont-de-Marsan Saint-Girons Biarritz Aurillac | Poule C Roanne (Roanne) SBUC US Bressane Cognac Lourdes Béziers Cahors Montauban |
| Poule D Nantes Lyon OU Soustons Toulouse Olympique EC La Voulte Vienne Angoulême Graulhet | Poule E Stade Niortais Foix (Foix) Tyrosse La Rochelle Mazamet Perpignan Toulouse Vichy | Poule F Chalon Grenoble Hendaye Chambéry Stadoceste Boucau Romans Dax |
| Poule G Périgueux Saint-Sever Narbonne Paris Université Club Bègles Pau Brive Auch | | |

## "Last 32"

In bold the clubs qualified for the next round
| Team 1 | Team 2 | Results |
| Lourdes | Toulouse Olympique EC | 14-6 |
| Cahors | Limoges | 14-3 |
| Chambéry | La Voulte | 6-3 |
| Tulle | Angoulême | 11-3 |
| Dax | Toulose | 8-0 |
| Tyrosse | Montferrand | 8-6 |
| Vichy | Bayonne | 16-3 |
| Mazamet | Toulon | 9-3 |
| Béziers | Auch | 18-0 |
| Foix | Périgueux | 9-0 |
| Mont-de-Marsan | Hendaye | 15-3 |
| Stadoceste | Vienne | 6-3 |
| Pau | Racing | 14-6 |
| Aurillac | Biarritz | 9-5 |
| Graulhet | Cognac | 8-3 |
| Brive | Grenoble | 21-5 |

## "Last 16"

In bold the clubs qualified for the next round
| Team 1 | Team 2 | Results |
| Lourdes | Cahors | 10-3 |
| Chambéry | Tulle | 9-3 |
| Dax | Tyrosse | 11-3 |
| Vichy | Mazamet | 8-6 |
| Béziers | Foix | 6-3 |
| Mont-de-Marsan | Stadoceste | 14-3 |
| Pau | Aurillac | 8-6 |
| Graulhet | Brive | 9-6 |

## Quarter of finals

In bold the clubs qualified for the next round
| Team 1 | Team 2 | Results |
| Lourdes | Chambéry | 15-3 |
| Dax | Vichy | 12-5 |
| Béziers | Mont-de-Marsan | 19-16 |
| Pau | Graulhet | 12-6 |

## Semifinals

| Team 1 | Team 2 | Results |
| Lourdes | Dax | 13-8 |
| Béziers | Pau | 3-3 |
The Béziers because with the same number of point and tries, had a better number of penalties (1 –0, Pau score only a drop)

## Final

| Teams | Lourdes - Béziers |
| Score | 14-11 |
| Date | 22 May 1960 |
| Venue | Stadium Municipal, Toulouse |
| Referee | Louis Parrot |
| Line-up | |
| Lourdes | Jean-Louis Taillantou, Pierre Deslus, Thomas Manterola, André Laffont, Louis Guinle, Michel Crauste, Henri Domec, Roland Crancée, François Vallée, Antoine Labazuy, Pierre Faur, Roger Martine, Arnaud Marquesuzaa, Pierre Tarricq, Guy Calvo |
| Béziers | Raoul Barrière, Emile Bolzan, Francis Mas, Pierre Mercier, André Gayraud, Roger Gensane, François Rondi, Jean Arnal, Pierre Danos, Robert Raynal, Jacques Fratangelle, Robert Spagnolo, Yvan Boggiano, Lucien Rogé, Paul Dedieu |
| Scorers | |
| Lourdes | 2 tries Fauré and Crauste, 2 penalties and 1 conversion Labazuy |
| Béziers | 1 try Raynal, 1 conversion and 2 penalties Danos |
Lourdes team was renewed from the previous year because of the retirement of Maurice and Jean Prat, The farewell of François Labazuy (moved to Tarbes), Henri Rancoule (to Touloun), Pierre Lacaze and Jean Barthe (to play rugby league). The departures was compensated by the arrivals of Michel Crauste and Arnaud Marquesuzaa and Roland Crancée.