Rugby Tours to France

Our school rugby tours to France offer a whole host of opportunities for students and club teams alike. Your team can explore a multitude of enriching destinations, enhance their sporting technique through professional coaching, build team-skills and embrace the famed French culture.

Prepare for friendly matches with pro coaching and tickets to a Top 14 fixture. With a new MSG international office hosted in The Basque Country, Bayonne and Biarritz await to provide a warm welcome to your team. Combine a competitive rugby tour with pro coaching from Bayonne (Aviron Bayonnais) players, surfing lessons, learning new sports – such as the Basque game of Pelota – and a match over the border in the Spanish Basque lands of San Sebastian. The close proximity enables touring teams to travel on a playing tour that includes matches in both countries. It’s not often you can boast that fact on a destination that’s less than 2 hours’ flying from the UK.

Further, all of our school rugby tours to France include one of our skilled and bilingual Tour Managers, including Head of European Operations, Stuart Lock – formerly of London’s Dulwich College. Read Stuart’s recent #blog here: The Basque Country from a Local (in a nutshell!)

Where to tour in France?

We offer rugby tours in various locations:

South-West:
Anglet, Bayonne, Biarritz, Bordeaux

South-East:
Perpignan & Toulouse

Central:
Paris.

Here is flavour of our hand-picked accommodation that is audited to UK regulatory standards.

FUAJ

Located only 20 minutes’ walk from Biarritz’s marvellous beaches, the FUAJ is part of the Hostelling International chain and famous for its laid-back atmosphere and welcome to touring groups. A bar/café area with projector and big screen offers evening entertainment whilst the nearby forests that surround a lake make for scenic training runs.

Our personal favourite facility is the fully equipped private rooms with video projectors and sound equipment that can be hired out for match analysis, the FUAJ Hostel is the perfect place for your next rugby trip to The Basque County.

Breakfast is served as standard with meals taken either at the accommodation or at adjacent restaurants or bakeries. Renowned for their competitive nature on the field and warm welcome off the pitch, enjoy a tour to this fantastic region where the relaxed way of life provides the perfect foil for a set of sporting encounters that will provide lasting memories.

What to do in Paris?

Fill your free time between rugby matches exploring Paris. Some excursions that we would recommend are:

When to visit France?

The best time to visit France for your rugby team tour runs alongside Top14 League System from August to June.

When it comes to France it’s most certainly no stranger to most of us here at MSG Tours. Check out a range of our blogs below for our personal recommendations.

The Basque Country from a Local (in a nutshell!)

The Intern goes to Paris

Get in touch with us to chat about how France would make the perfect destination for your next school rugby trip or rugby team tour.

Our Recommendations

“The Basque Country has proved ideal as a pre season destination, meeting all our requirements and exceeding expectations. As well as being a fantastic part of the world with glorious beaches it is a region that lives and breathes rugby. Having Stuart and MSG Tours on the ground has allowed us to take a flexible approach to our itinerary, adapting to the variety of uncontrollable factors that seem crop up on overseas tours. An all-round amazing experience.”

Chris Morgan, Director of Sport at Tonbridge School
Biarritz Pre-Season Rugby Tour, August 2017

“Suffice to say the trip that was laid on was excellent with exactly the right balance between free time, activities and rugby. All transport was excellent and on time; the Koisi was ideally situated for our group and perfect for the numbers and age of the boys, and the boys will all remember their pelota experience (probably more than Stuart’s brief history of famous players that have graced Biarritz!)”

David Wickes, Warwick School Rugby, October 2017

For those wanting something a little busier, France has a boasting capital that surpasses any other city for tourists; Paris. Offering an incredible array of sights, sounds, food and sporting theatres to fit into your sports tour itinerary, Paris’ reputation as the city of love certainly encompasses a love for the beautiful game.

Find out where previous groups travelled to on their rugby sports tours:

Rydal Penrhos: Rugby Tour to Tokyo, Japan

Old Illtydians RFC: Rugby tour to Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison

Coleg Gwent: Rugby Tour to Australia

View other past rugby tours here