This is the story of a pioneer, the woman behind the creation of the Breizh’Barians, a group of women’s teams now attached to RC Vannes. Diane Amangoua, and her rock-solid passion. This is the story of the woman who helped set up the RCV senior women’s section.

In the beginning there were the Breizh’Barians: a story of friends who loved rugby and were ready to do anything to create a team, even if it meant organising inter-club gatherings across the Morbihan. The adventure began eight years ago. Diane Amangoua, the elder stateswoman and creator of the project, and incidentally a prop and a coach of Lorient’s U14s, tells the tale:

“I simply started out at Ploemeur, but at the time the FFR was still changing the regulations for the women’s game and wanted to set aside adapted sevens in order to push either ten-a-side or fifteen-a-side. Back then I was a player at Stade Rennais and I never forgot to go and have fun with my friends from Ploemeur.”

Players from several clubs then agreed to create a combined group of teams in the Morbihan. The first host club was Auray, then came Lorient, Lanester, Grand-Champ and RC Vannes.

A major change came this season with RC Vannes being confirmed as the host club. Diane explains:

“We worked all of last season with the RCV committee. The people running the various Morbihan clubs no longer wanted this combined system. RCV were happy to help us become a single club and to welcome all of the players.”

Today the squad numbers around 45 players. In the pyramid of the women’s championships, RCV play in Fédérale 1, the third division behind Élite 2 and Élite 1. Promotion to the level above is not a priority, as Diane points out:

“We had good results five years ago with a play-off run and even top spot across all the championships, but then came lockdown and everything stopped.”

After the restart, the federation invited the team to move up to Fédérale 1. This season, the RCV players are in a very “Parisian” pool, with plenty of trips to Courbevoie, Villiers-sur-Marne and others. Travel is handled by RCV, often by coach, for practical reasons: train timetables do not fit the Breton side’s journeys to the Île-de-France.

But how did Diane fall into the rugby pot in the first place?

“My eldest son started rugby at the age of 4. As a mum, I took him along… and then I rather liked it. I started playing rugby in 2013 (aged over 30, editor’s note).”

Today Mattew, the younger son, plays for RCV in Alamercy, while Terrence, the elder, has joined the pôle espoir.

Do Diane and her friends feel like the standard-bearers of women’s rugby in southern Brittany?

“We hope so,” smiles Diane. “At the start, we were told that after one season we would be dead and buried. We are still here. We hope it will bear fruit and that there will be other genuine projects in the department.”

“To make it last. To try to have a second senior fifteen-a-side team. In the long run, the idea would be to set up — as they have for the boys — a girls’ sports section at cadet level. Today there are around forty of them. It would be good to support them technically and in playing terms, and to be able to welcome girls from all over Brittany. To become a hub that attracts people.”