Rugby Club CERN - Meyrin - St Genis (RC CMSG) are a semi-professional Swiss rugby union club situated on the French–Swiss border, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) northwest of Geneva. The club plays in the Swiss first division where it is one of the most successful teams in the country's history, behind Hermance RRC.[1]

Rugby Club CERN
Full nameRugby Club CERN - Meyrin - St Genis
Founded1965
LocationGeneva, Switzerland
Ground(s)Stade des Serves
46°14′21″N 6°02′14″E / 46.2393°N 6.0371°E / 46.2393; 6.0371 (Stade des Serves)
Stade de Meyrin
46°14′00″N 6°04′15″E / 46.233352°N 6.07081°E / 46.233352; 6.07081 (Stade de Meyrin)
PresidentFrance Grégory Bertrand
Coach(es)Romania Gica Vacariu
Captain(s)France Kévin Boonroy Switzerland Nicolas Baronciani
League(s)Swiss 2nd Division
2018-198th and relegated from 1st Division
Team kit
Official website
www.cern-rugby.ch

Club history

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RC CMSG was formed as Rugby Club du CERN (Rugby Club of CERN) in 1965,[2] making it the oldest club currently playing in Switzerland. The earliest recorded match in Switzerland was in 1869 and if they were still in existence, Lausanne RFC could have claimed to be as old as Blackheath.[3] The club was originally formed by staff of CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in around 1960, playing against other companies and organizations in the Geneva area. In 1970, RC CERN organised a memorial competition, Challenge Laurent Membrez,[4] in honor of Laurent Membrez, the founder of Albaladejo Rugby Club.[5] This led to the creation of the Swiss Rugby Federation in 1972 with the then president of RC CERN, André Cordaillat, becoming the federation's first president.[6] In 1984, the club moved to its present ground just across the border in Saint-Genis-Pouilly, France; despite being officially renamed to Rugby Club CERN - St Genis, it was still referred to as RC CERN. Then in 2003 the club merged with the successful Ecole de rugby Meyrin (Meyrin Rugby School), creating the present Rugby Club CERN - Meyrin - St Genis with two stadiums, one in France and one in Switzerland. In 2005, the Wildcats,[7] RC CMSG's women's rugby team, were created, adding to the growth of women's rugby in Switzerland.

After the creation of the Swiss Federation, the club enjoyed considerable success, winning both the Swiss Championship and Swiss Cup repeatedly. In the early 1990s, the fortunes of the club started to change and their successes became less frequent, with the club eventually being relegated to the second division in 1994. The club regained promotion a couple of years later but were only to remain in the first division for a further two years. After a dispute between players, coaches and management, the president removed the club from all competitions. In the autumn of 2000, a new management took control of the club, bringing in ex-England B,[8] Ireland A,[9] Northampton and Gloucester[10] second row, John Etheridge, as coach. The club then won the third and second divisions in consecutive years, but were unable to stay in the first division, and after the second relegation from the first division, Etheridge left the club. In 2007, RC CMSG appointed Claude Ezoua as head coach, who notably took the Ivory Coast rugby team to the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The club then achieved promotion back to the first division in the 2008–2009 season, losing only one game in the whole season, with the club managing to stay in the first division during the 2009–2010 season for the first time in 15 years. RC CMSG slowly climbed to the top of table, each season finishing higher than the previous, and making the league knock-out stages for three consecutive seasons. In 2014 CERN re-enforced the coaching setup with the ex-Romanian national squad captain Ioan Doja who represented his country at the World Cup,[11] also playing teams such as for Oyonnax.

The January 2015 General Assembly voted in new club president Grégory Bertrand, long time member of the club. Due to a number of players leaving the club, the management asked the Swiss Federation for the club to be relegated to the second division for the 2015/2016 season after 6 years in the first division. The 2015/2016 season saw CERN undefeated at home and following the league play off matches they were promoted back to the first division after only one season in the second division.

Club honours

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Competitions Years
Swiss Champions (NLA) 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1984, 1989, 1990, 1991
Swiss Champions (LNFA- Wildcats) 2018
Swiss Cup 1973, 1974, 1977, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
Federation Cup 1975, 1991
Second Division Champions (NLB) 1998, 2002, 2009, 2016
Third Division Champions (NLC) 2001

Current 1st team Squad

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Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Romain Bonnefoy Hooker   France
Beren Evans Hooker   Switzerland
Nicolas Baronciani Prop   Switzerland
Julien Bonenfant Prop   Switzerland
Peter MacAvock Prop   Ireland
Jordane Clair Prop   France
Toko Prop   Fiji
Nik Harte Prop   England
Elliot Goodman Lock   England
Sebastien Katz Lock   France
Gergory Bertrand Lock   France
Pascal Prost Lock   France
Nick Sharmazanashvili Lock   Georgia
Fabrice Calmettes Lock   United States
Leo Hempel Lock   Switzerland
Thibault Fabre Lock   Switzerland
Benoît Rio Lock   France
Stéphane Maccari Flanker   France
Guillaume Fontana Flanker   France
Pierre Szydlowski Flanker   France
Remy Henry (c) Flanker   France
Charlie Genton Flanker   France
Lorenzo Palestini Flanker   Italy
Christophe Fabre Flanker   Switzerland
Nick Hanley Number 8   England
Kabir Sehmi Number 8   Switzerland
Player Position Union
Francesco Velotti Scrum-half   Italy
Miguel Costa Scrum-half   Portugal
Joey van Strien Scrum-half   Netherlands
Vicentiu Vacaru Fly-half   Romania
Jerôme Lespes Fly-half   Switzerland
Bastian Gras Fly-half   Switzerland
Phil Moss Centre   New Zealand
Alex Bell Centre   England
George Truelove Centre   England
Ioan Manolescu Centre   Romania
Mark Chalmers Centre   England
Bertrand Toussaint Centre   France
Eric Talon Wing   France
Ivan Calvet Wing   France
Rachid Zaibat Wing   France
Alphonse Ague Wing   Ivory Coast
Gevorg Petrosyan Wing   Georgia
Samuele Torrisi Wing   Switzerland
Elias Montoya-Aspisi Fullback   France
Nico Di Vara Fullback   Italy
Grégory Debellis Fullback   France
Galan Lliteras Fullback   France
Mathias Fabre Fullback   Switzerland

Presidents

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1965 – 1972 André Cordaillat
1972 – 1975 Michael Gamble
1976 – 1991 Jacques Morand
1992 - 1993 Pascal Mesenge
1994 - 1995 Neil Calder
1996 - 1998 Henri Masseboeuf
1999 - 2000 Roger Girardot
2001 - 2003 Ray Veness
2004 - 2005 Matteo Mazzanti
2005 - 2015 Peter MacAvock
2015 - 2020 Grégory Bertrand
2020 - 2021 Thierry Nicod
2021 - 2024 Sabrina El yacoubi

Coaches

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1965 – 1996 ?
1996 – 1999 Christian Marcon  
1999 – 2000 Eric Planes  
2000 - 2007 John Etheridge  
2007 Ali Day   Damian Moore  
2007 - 2010 Claude Ezoua   Ali Day  
2010 - 2011 Ali Day   Gianni Di Martino  
2011 - 2014 Sebastien Frunza   Yann Mauvoisin  
2014 - 2015 Sebastien Frunza   Ioan Doja  
2015 - 2018 Ioan Doja   Yann Mauvoisin  
2018 - 2019 Yann Mauvoisin   Vicent Suchaud   Gabriel Trochard   Michael Conway  
2019 - Gica Vacariu  

Women (Wildcats)

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2005 Paul Clements-Hunt  
2005 - 2007 Ali Day  
2007 - 2008 Gianni Di Martino  
2008 - 2015 Moyenda Chaponda  
2015 - 2018 Christian Von Arx  
2021 - 2024 Amy Berthaut Farr  
2023 - 2024 Julie Coupard  

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Ligue A".
  2. ^ "Contacts Clubs".
  3. ^ Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ISBN 978-1-86200-013-1) p 75
  4. ^ "Rugby Club Zurich - Teams". www.rugbyzurich.ch. Archived from the original on 2007-09-25.
  5. ^ "Rugby Club Albaldejor". www.albaladejorugby.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-09.
  6. ^ "Suisse Rugby".
  7. ^ "Wildcats Instagram".
  8. ^ "Etheridge, John".
  9. ^ "Rugby Union: Field comes in at centre for Ireland: Malone man's debut". Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
  10. ^ "Rugby Union: Beal edges it for the Saints". Independent.co.uk. 23 October 2011.
  11. ^ "Ioan Doja".