RC Vannes did not spend long wondering how it would respond to relegation. One year after finishing last in its first Top 14 season, the Breton club stormed through Pro D2, finished first with 116 points and completed its return by beating Provence Rugby 18-14 in the championship final.
Now comes the difficult part. Vannes is back in the Top 14 for 2026-27, but this is not quite the same club that arrived two years ago. Most of the promotion-winning group remains, while an ambitious recruitment drive has added international experience and considerably more depth.
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That makes Vannes one of the more intriguing promoted sides in recent seasons. The question is no longer whether the club belongs on this stage culturally or organizationally. It is whether lessons learned from the 2024-25 relegation can translate into enough wins to stay there.
What Vannes' 2025-26 Season Told Us
Vannes did far more than earn promotion.
It dominated Pro D2.
Jean-Noël Spitzer's team finished the regular season 24-1-5, scoring 1,092 points while conceding 543. Vannes averaged 36.4 points per match and produced a plus-549 scoring differential.
The dominance extended to the postseason. Vannes hammered Oyonnax 48-7 in the semifinal before beating Provence Rugby 18-14 in the final.
There was substance beneath those enormous scoring totals. Vannes repeatedly controlled possession and territory, operated efficiently at the lineout and showed it could win away from Brittany. It finished 9-1-5 on the road.
But Pro D2 success does not erase what happened during Vannes' previous Top 14 season.
In 2024-25, Vannes finished 14th with 36 points and a minus-230 scoring differential while conceding approximately 34 points per match. That remains the warning hanging over everything the club accomplished last season.
Vannes proved it was better than Pro D2. Now it must prove it has become good enough for the Top 14.
Vannes Transfers And Offseason Changes
The most encouraging aspect of the Vannes transfers is how little reconstruction was required.
Fourteen players who started the Pro D2 final remain. Of the entire 23-man championship squad, 21 are still with the club.
The major exception is Mako Vunipola, who departed for Leicester Tigers.
Vannes responded by recruiting across virtually the entire roster.
Props Ugo Boniface, Giorgi Beria and Sione Mafileo increase front-row options. Samoa international Mills Sanerivi arrives at hooker, while Argentine lock Matías Alemanno brings 99 Test caps at the time of his signing.
Georgia international Ioane Iashagashvili joins the back row. Fiji scrum-half Simione Kuruvoli gives Vannes another international option at No. 9, while Pierre Popelin strengthens the fly-half depth behind Maxime Lafage.
Raymond Nu'u and Fiji international Inia Tabuavou reinforce the centers. Nathanaël Hulleu returns to Vannes as another wing option, while Joe Jonas and Murray Taulagi increase competition in the back three.
Clovis Le Bail adds experienced scrum-half depth.
There is also an academy component. Prop Rayane Tafili signed his first professional contract through 2028, while the Vannes Espoirs won their 2026 championship at the Accession level.
Most importantly, Spitzer remains in charge. Vannes has preserved coaching and roster continuity while attempting to upgrade the physical ceiling of the team around it.
Vannes Projected Starting XV And Bench
PROJECTION
- Ugo Boniface, prop
- Mills Sanerivi, hooker
- Santiago Medrano, prop
- Eric Marks, lock
- Matías Alemanno, lock
- Juan-Bautista Pedemonte, back row
- Francisco Gorrissen, back row
- Sione Kalamafoni, back row
- Michael Ruru, scrum-half
- Maxime Lafage, fly-half
- Nathanaël Hulleu, wing
- Raymond Nu'u, center
- Pierre Boudehent, center
- Paul Surano, wing
- Anthony Bouthier, fullback
Projected bench options: Théo Béziat, Giorgi Beria, Sione Mafileo, Thomas Ployet, Ioane Iashagashvili, Simione Kuruvoli, Pierre Popelin and Inia Tabuavou.
The striking feature is how many newcomers can enter the 23 without dismantling the championship side.
Boniface, Sanerivi and Alemanno immediately strengthen the pack, while Hulleu gives the back three another proven option. Kuruvoli could easily challenge Ruru for the starting scrum-half job, and the competition among Nu'u, Boudehent, Tabuavou and Robin Taccola gives Spitzer several midfield combinations.
That is precisely what Vannes lacked the first time around: not merely a capable starting XV, but enough credible alternatives to survive a Top 14 season.
Vannes Players To Watch In 2026-27
Maxime Lafage
Maxime Lafage remains central to everything. The fly-half was selected to the Pro D2 team of the season after being credited with 178 points and scored eight points in the promotion final. Vannes will need his kicking, territorial management and composure in tight matches.
Francisco Gorrissen
Francisco Gorrissen captains the established core. His importance extends beyond the back row because so much of Vannes' continuity runs through players who experienced both the previous Top 14 campaign and the promotion response.
Matías Alemanno
Matías Alemanno is the headline addition. His experience should immediately strengthen Vannes at the lineout and in the collisions — precisely the areas where a promoted team cannot afford to be overwhelmed.
Simione Kuruvoli
Simione Kuruvoli creates fascinating competition at scrum-half. Vannes already has Ruru, but adding a Fiji international with 25 caps when signed provides a different option and substantially better depth.
Nathanaël Hulleu
Nathanaël Hulleu returns after previously scoring 17 tries in a Pro D2 season for Vannes. His pace and finishing ability could become especially valuable for a side unlikely to enjoy the same volume of attacking opportunities it created last season.
How RC Vannes Plays
Vannes' promotion was built on considerably more than forward power.
The attack generated 1,092 regular-season points and frequently controlled possession. Vannes could construct phases rather than simply kick away possession and wait for mistakes.
The lineout was particularly reliable. Vannes went 16-for-16 on its own ball in the season opener at Brive and 15-for-15 at Agen. Adding Alemanno gives that platform another experienced operator.
The scrum also performed strongly in several Pro D2 matches, but this is where context matters. What works against Pro D2 packs is not automatically enough against Top 14 front rows, which helps explain the investment in Boniface, Beria and Mafileo.
Lafage provides the territorial and goal-kicking component. Popelin gives Spitzer another experienced option at No. 10, while the combination of Ruru and Kuruvoli creates considerable variety at scrum-half.
Discipline could become costly. Vannes conceded 17 penalties in its 16-15 victory at Dax and 14 at Agen. Giving Top 14 opponents that much access to territory and points is dangerous.
Defense, however, remains the defining issue.
Vannes conceded only 543 points across 30 Pro D2 matches last season. During its previous Top 14 campaign, it allowed approximately 891.
Everything about the 2026-27 season ultimately comes back to narrowing that enormous gap.
How Vannes Built A Rugby Club In Brittany
RC Vannes was founded in 1950, but its transformation into a major professional club has accelerated under Spitzer.
Vannes reached Pro D2 in 2016, becoming the first Breton club to establish itself at that professional level. It won its first Pro D2 championship and earned its first Top 14 promotion in 2024.
Relegation followed in 2025. Another Pro D2 championship followed in 2026.
That journey gives Vannes a distinctive place in French rugby. The club represents Brittany in a competition traditionally concentrated much farther south, and its "Fierté Bretonne" identity has become part of the wider project.
This second promotion also feels different from the first. Vannes is no longer discovering the Top 14. Its coaches and much of its roster have already experienced exactly what happens when the step upward proves too large.
Why Stade de la Rabine Matters
Vannes needs La Rabine to be more than atmospheric. It needs points.
The club went 15-0 in home-designated regular-season matches last season. Fourteen of those victories came at La Rabine, with another against Grenoble played at Roazhon Park in Rennes. Vannes then beat Oyonnax 48-7 at home in the semifinal.
La Rabine holds roughly 12,000 spectators depending on configuration, but Vannes' reach increasingly extends beyond its own stadium.
Nearly 30,000 supporters attended the Grenoble match in Rennes, and Vannes will return to Roazhon Park for its designated home game against Toulouse on Sept. 19.
For survival purposes, though, the equation is straightforward: Vannes probably needs to win the majority of its home games.
Vannes' Biggest Strength
Continuity combined with dramatically improved depth.
Keeping 21 members of the promotion-final 23 while adding experienced players across the front row, second row, back row, halfbacks, midfield and back three is an ideal offseason for a promoted club.
Vannes has strengthened without starting over.
The Biggest Question Facing Vannes
Can its defense and forward platform translate to the Top 14?
Everything else is secondary.
Vannes already knows it can score prolifically in Pro D2. It already knows it can dominate at home. It already knows Lafage can manage matches and its lineout can provide quality possession.
What it does not yet know is whether the rebuilt roster can withstand Top 14 collisions and pressure every week without again conceding more than 30 points per match.
What Should We Expect From Vannes In 2026-27?
Survival would constitute a successful season.
The recent record for promoted clubs demonstrates why. Of six promoted entrants examined between 2021 and 2025, only two survived their first Top 14 season.
Vannes itself finished with 36 points in 2024-25. Recent standings suggest something closer to 48-52 points represents a reasonable target for outright safety, while finishing 13th means facing the Pro D2 finalist away from home in the Access Match.
That makes 12th the real objective.
Vannes appears substantially better equipped to pursue it this time. The roster is deeper, the promotion core is almost completely intact, the halfback options are unusually strong for a promoted side and the pack has received targeted reinforcement.
None of that guarantees survival.
But unlike two years ago, Vannes enters the Top 14 already knowing exactly how unforgiving the competition can be. Its offseason suggests the club understood the lesson.
CEILING
11th. Vannes' attack translates, the reinforced pack holds up, home dominance continues and enough road points arrive to create separation from the relegation fight.
MOST LIKELY OUTCOME
12th-13th. Vannes spends much of the season fighting for survival, with La Rabine, bonus points and a handful of away results determining whether it secures safety or faces the Access Match.
FLOOR
14th. The defensive problems of Vannes' first Top 14 campaign return, the set piece struggles against stronger packs and another prolific Pro D2 season proves unable to translate to France's top division.
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