The 1992–93 French Rugby Union Championship was won by Castres who beat Grenoble 14–11 in the final, in a match decided by an irregular try accorded by the referee.
It was the third bouclier de Brennus for the Castres Olympique, the first after 43 year
Formula The championship, called "Group A" was contested by 32 clubs divided in four pools.
At the end of the first phase, the teams classified in the first four of each pool were qualified to play a "Top 16" divided in four pools of four teams.
The eight teams ranked first and second of each pool were admitted to knockout stages
At the end of the season, four club were relegated to the second division: Chalon, l'US Tyrosse, Cognac and Le Creusot.
They were replaced by Périgueux, Dijon, Lyon OU and Lourdes.
Participants The teams are linked according to the ranking, in bold'' the ones qualified for "Top 16"
Pool 1 RC Toulon Bègles-Bordeaux Toulouse Dax Auch Graulhet RRC Nice ChalonPool 2 Agen Stadoceste Tarbais Béziers Biarritz Nîmes Rumilly Stade Bordelais Tyrosse RCSPool 3 Narbonne Grenoble Pau Montferrand Bayonne Racing Paris Bourgoin-Jallieu CognacPool 4 Perpignan Castres Brive Colomiers Mon de Marsan Montpellier Le Creusot Avenir Valencien
Top 16 In bold''' the clubs qualified for the next round . All the qualified came from pool 1 and 2 of the first phase.
Pool 1 Perpignan Brive Colomiers BiarritzPool 2 RC Toulon Toulouse CA Bègthe-Bordeaux MontferrandPool 3 Grenoble Narbonne Béziers PauPool 4 Agen Castres Stadoceste Tarbais Dax
Knock Out stage
Quarterfinals 16 May 1993Grenoble-Toulouse19 – 17 (o.t.)16 May 1993Agen-Brive33 - 1623 May 1993Castres-Narbonne33 – 21 16 May 1993Toulon-Perpignan10 - 9
Semifinals 23 May 1993Grenoble-Agen19 - 523 May 1993Castres-Toulon17 - 16
Final
FB 15 Laurent LabitRW 14 Jean-Bernard BergèsOC 13 Adrian LunguIC 12 Pascal CombesLW 11 Christophe LucquiaudFH 10 Francis Rui (c)SH 9 Cédric Tonini N8 8 Alain Carminati OF 7 Gilbert PagèsBF 6 José Díaz RL 5 Gary WhettonLL 4 Thierry Bourdet TP 3 Thierry Lafforgue HK 2 Christophe UriosLP 1 Laurent Toussaint Substitutions:HK 16 Christian BatutPR 17 Jean-Luc Vidal FL 18 Éric Minniti N8 19 Jean-Philippe SwiadeckWG 20 Maurice BilleWG 21 Philippe OmsCoach: Alain Gaillard FB 15 Cyril SavyRW 14 Philippe MeunierOC 13 Brice BardouIC 12 Frédéric VéloLW 11 Willy TaofifénuaFH 10 Patrick Goirand SH 9 Dominique Mazille N8 8 Džoni MandićOF 7 Hervé Chaffardon (c)BF 6 Grzegorz KacałaRL 5 Olivier BrouzetLL 4 Olivier MerleTP 3 Franck CapdevilleHK 2 Éric FerruitLP 1 Philippe TapiéSubstitutions:HK 16 Gilbert BrunatPR 17 Arnaud BazinFL 18 Patrice VacchinoSH 19 Franck Hueber CE 20 Martial ServantesFB 21 Xavier CambresCoach: Jacques Fouroux Michel Ringeval
A try by Olivier Brouzet was disallowed for Grenoble.
The decisive try by Gary Whetton was awarded by referee Daniel Salles, despite Grenoble player Franck Hueber having grounded the ball first in his own in-goal area.
This refereeing decision allowed Castres Olympique to win the title. At the time, video refereeing did not exist.
Jacques Fouroux, in conflict with the French Rugby Federation, denounced a conspiracy.
However, FC Grenoble did not file an official complaint with the French Rugby Federation regarding refereeing decisions.
Thirteen years later, referee Salles admitted he had made a crucial refereeing mistake, acknowledging that Grenoble had been wrongly denied a championship-winning try.
Today, this final is considered one of the most controversial matches in French rugby history, marked by refereeing controversies and disputed decisions.
Even twenty years later, the sense of injustice among Grenoble players and supporters remained strong.
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links Compte rendu de la finale 1993 sur www.lnr.fr