Aurillac: the club all fans of "Tier 2" nations should root for

Aurillac Espoirs celebrate winning the club's
first ever national French title

Among the best news stories of the summer for "Tier 2" rugby was the triumph of Aurillac Espoirs. One of the lower budget Pro D2 (27th out of the top 30 French clubs last season), they sensationally against the odds toppled a number of the Top 14 big hitters to win the club's first ever French title.

This a major achievement. The Espoirs title over the past decade has been won the likes of Clermont (5 times), Montpellier, Racing 92, Bordeaux-Bègles, Perpignan, Toulon, & Toulouse. All those Top 14 sides can obviously attract far more of the top young French talent from smaller clubs. Yet Aurillac beat them all.

Aurillac's run in the knockout stages was thrilling. In the quarter final they beat Clermont 33-30 in extra time. In the semi final they came from 22-6 behind away from home to beat Perpignan (who had gone unbeaten in the regular season) 26-25 in the final kick of the match. In the final they were 23-10 down against the reigning champions Toulouse but finished strongly powering home scoring 27 points in the final 25 minutes to win 37-26.

This win for Aurillac though is also a big win for European rugby as a whole. As a small club in a region where the top talent gets hoovered up by their more powerful neighbour Clermont. It has led them to scouting the rest of the continent for recruits where bigger budget sides are not looking.

In their 23 for the final there were six Georgians: loosehead prop Irakli Mtchedlidze, hooker Basa Khonelidze, tighthead prop Nikoloz Kardava, back row Beka Shvangiradze, scrum half Mikheil Alania, & wing Dachi Papunashvili.

Video: Beka Shvangiradze's impressive 2021/22 highlight reel for Aurillac & Georgia 

Also three Dutch: lock Skip Jongejan, flanker Tim De Jong, & centre Juun Pieters. Three other Dutch also played for them in the regular season. Flanker Hugo Huurman, scrum half Boris Hadinegoro, & full back Kai van Kampen. So did Russian prop Ivan Beskov and Spanish centre Dani Catanzaro. 

There were also three French players with links to "Tier 2" nations. Lock Mosa'ati Moala is the son of former Tonga prop Mosese Moala, the other lock Mehdi Slamani made his debut for Algeria in July, and the wing Toni Maftei is the son of former Romania wing Valentin Maftei and has represented the Oaks at age grade level.

No other professional club in France has ever had so many players from Rugby Europe nations on their books.

The Georgians and the Dutch in particular also had very prominent roles in the Espoirs success. Juun Pieters was recognised as one of the leading players of the knockout rounds for his all round contributions both in attack and defence. Tim de Jong was a powerful presence and was one of the players to win a call up to the first team late in the season.

Tim de Jong powerful try assist in a 24-22 away win vs Racing 92

Dachi Papunashvili kicked the match winning penalty from 50 metres in extra time vs Clermont and finished a crucial late try from a cross kick in the comeback vs Perpignan.

Papunashvili's match winning extra time penalty from 50 metres out vs Clermont 

The all Georgian front row came of the bench to dominate Perpignan at scrum to win the match winning penalty. Irakli Mtchedlidze could be seen making huge charges around the park in the build up to tries. Basa Khonelidze strong impact in the final saw him named man of the match coming from the bench.

Mikheil Alania scored a 50 metre individual wonder try against Clermont, and alongside the super impressive Beka Shvangiradze was one of the standouts of the team, with both those players also earning call ups to the Georgian national team this July.

Mikheil Alania 50 metre individual try vs Clermont in the quarter final

In the off season Aurillac only signed two players to their senior squad against ten departures, and it is clear from their pre-season matches the club's management are now backing the best of this group for promotions to first team level.

Hopefully several of these players will go onto good senior careers, both for their club and country. Their success is important as it could also help influence recruitment at other French clubs who may then begin take more notice of Rugby Europe age grade tournaments and open up further opportunity for more young players to play professionally and qualify as JIFF in French rugby.

In any case as the Pro D2 season kicks off this week. Aurillac are without doubt the team any fan of Georgian or Dutch or any other "Tier 2" nation in general should be rooting for.