The bad puns first, so that’s out of the way: below the Mayenne but the charge of the Laval that laughs… Three clubs for an entire department is not many. Laval, Mayenne, Château-Gontier. But only 300,000 inhabitants in this deeply rural corner, wedged between Le Mans and Rennes, Caen and Angers, all vertical lines. And people who love the oval ball, such as Augustin Roland, 33, player-president of Mayenne.

A Swiss army knife in the president’s chair

Augustin Roland is something of a Swiss army knife at his club: president, coach, and a player out in the pasture, fibula permitting. Ten years as president, started at 23, around a hundred registered members under his watch. A preacher in the relative wilderness of a department in the Ligue des Pays de la Loire that has only three rugby clubs.

On the pitch, same story. “I manage to play anywhere to fill a gap because we’re still in Régionale 3, so it’s fine”, the man himself laughs. “I prefer playing up front anyway, even if I’ve played every position.”

One club every 30 kilometres

The Mayenne is 300,000 inhabitants, an ultra-rural department with a critical transport problem. In fact, there is one club every 30 kilometres. And yet the Mayenne is one of the most sporting departments in France relative to its population. Except that football is utterly dominant there.

The problem facing Mayenne rugby? Having a big enough base of players to try to build something. As soon as a child wants to play rugby, or anything other than football for that matter, they have to travel. A geography problem.

“That’s why we opened a satellite section in Gorron, 20 kilometres from Mayenne, because our coach is based there, so we had someone on the spot”, Roland explains. The result: around fifteen extra registered members. Missionary work, the old-fashioned way.

Missionaries, we tell you

“That’s what Hugues told me”, Roland confirms, referring to Hugues Meilheureux, president of the Ligue des Pays de la Loire and, as it happens, the man who coached him as a kid. Ten years at the head of the club is a long time when you start at 23. But the handover is coming: “Quite a few youngsters who came through the rugby school have moved up to senior level. They’re in their twenties, they want to get involved, I’m ready to pass the baton.” With support through the first season, and never being far away. Missionaries, we tell you.

A semi-final for the history books

This season, Mayenne enjoyed the thrill of a Régionale 3 French championship semi-final, at their first attempt. Remarkable for a club of that size, chaired by the man the current Ligue president coached in his youth. The circle is a fine one.

Around a hundred registered members, a rugby school, a satellite section in Gorron: the seeds are sown. In this farming country, they will grow.