Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 1 Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 2

Introduction

The city of Brive is situated in the region of , Limousin, and is the capital of the department of the Corrèze.

The commune was named "Brive" until 1919, when it was renamed "Brive-la-Gaillarde". The word "Gaillarde" (still used in current French) probably stands for bravery or strength in the city's name, but it can also refer to the city's walls. Brive now extends outside of its original boundaries into Malemort and Ussac.

During World War II, Brive-la-Gaillarde was a regional capital of the Resistance, acting as a seat of several clandestine information networks and several of the principal resistance movements, including the Armée Secrète (or “Secret Army”) and the Mouvements unis de la Résistance (or “United Movements of the Resistance”).

Brive-la-Gaillarde was the first city of Occupied to liberate itself by its own means, on August 15, 1944. For this, the city received the “Croix de guerre 1939-1945” military decoration.

The medieval center is mainly a commercial district with retail shops and various cafés. It is also the location of the city hall, the main police station, and the Labenche museum. One notable landmark outside the inner city is the Pont Cardinal, a bridge which used to be a crossing point for travellers from to Toulouse. Finally, it is the home of CA Brive team! Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 3

How To Get To Brive

If you are flying to Lamoges or Rodez you can take a train to Brive, alternatively you could hire a rental car (many airlines offer specials if you quote your flight number).

Route and price information along with online bookings can be viewed at www.tgv-europe.com/en/home

Many supporters are basing themselves in , again if you are not flying in directly you can make your way by train or rental car. Once in Bordeaux you’ll need a way to get to and from Brive on matchday.

At the time of writing there limited places were available on the OLSC supporters bus, it leaves from outside the Connemara pub in Bordeaux and will drive straight to the ground, after the game it will return back to the Connemara for what we hope are celebrations!

The cost of the bus is €25 pp, further details and booking enquiries should be made by emailing the club at [email protected]

Accommodation.

If you have not already booked accommodation for this trip, check out the ‘OLSC Accommodation guide’ in the downloads section of www.leinsterrugby.ie

Flight Confirmations

Whilst airlines should contact you (by email at least) if there are flight schedule changes, we suggest that you check your booking via the ‘Manage your booking’ section on their websites, this could save you time/inconvenience before heading to the airport Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 4

Supporters HQ

The OLSC have teamed up with an establishment on both Brive and Bordeaux over the Heineken Cup weekend, both will be welcoming our supporters as well as proving some special offers for members of the blue army (you will need to be wearing your jersey though!)

Café du Pont du Buis, 68 av Mar Foch, 19100 Brive La Gaillarde

Located 400 metres from the ground this is an ideal meeting spot regardless of whether you are basing yourself in Brive or Bordeaux. There will be alcohol and food specials across the weekend. We are also told that there will be commerative t-shirts being sold in the bar over the weekend to mark this fixture taking place.

The Connemara, 18 cours d’Albret, 33000 Bordeaux.

Located in the city centre, The Connemara has been chosen as the Bordeaux base for Leinster supporters and will also serve as the pickup/drop-off point for the OLSC supporters bus. Make sure you wear your colours as we have negotiated pints of lager for €4 (with a tray of 4 for €15). Guinness, Magners and Kilkenny is also available on tap at €4.50 a pint (normally €6)

The Connemara also offers food, from snacks to full menus with a good wine range. www.connemara-pub.com

Aside from the Supporters HQ’s both Bordeaux and Brive have a number of bars, cafes and restaurants, before arriving you might like to visit www.tripadvisor.com

Other Attractions

While in Brive, make sure to take a stroll around the old town, there are a number of 15th and 16th century houses as well as a number of mansions. From December to March there are normally markets, unfortunately for this weekend these won’t be open however there are a number of shops, cafes and bars of which you can visit. Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 5

Mobile phone roaming Regardless of which network you choose whilst roaming in France you should never pay more than 52c to make a call or 23c to receive one. Text messages are free to receive but 13c to send. For those with Internet enabled phones (iphones for example) make sure that you have data roaming switched off – failure to do so will see your handset automatically roam on arrival at international data rates – these are very expensive, check with your operator for further information.

Lost or stolen passport? You should contact the local police if you loose or have your passport stolen, it can also be reported to the Irish Embassy, Embassy of Ireland, 12 Avenue Foch, 75116 Paris. Tel: + 33 1 44 17 6700 Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 6

Stadium Information

Municiple Stadium is located 2.5ksm from the centre of Brive at 116 Avenue du 11 Novembre, 19100 Brive La Gaillarde.

CABrive also have a shop that sells a range of club merchandise, this is located at 116, Place Charles de Gaulle,19100 Brive La Gaillarde

www.cabrive-rugby.com Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 7

Over the past few years the Leinster support on the road has really burgeoned. We brought thousands to our pool games, culminating with 10,000 mak - ing the trip to Twickenham a freezing January week - end for the Wasps game. A smaller but equally vociferous group made their way to Castres Olympic and made enough noise to prompt commentators to ask if it was in fact a Leinster home game. Then we had that infamous quarterfinal against Harlequins where the Leinster support won Othvee “rp tlhaey epra osft tfheew m yeoanrths ”t haew ard for Ltheeinirs rtoelre s iunp tphoart th oisnt othriec rvoicatdo rhya. sThe rseeaalslyo bnu cruglemoineadte. dL awsitth s tehaes otena wme at - btarionuinggh tt htheo huoslayn gdrsa itlo t hoautr i sp othoel gHaemineesk,e cnu Elmuirnoapteinagn wCituhp 1, 0w,a0t0c0hed by Bsolumees 4m0a,0ki0n0g Ltheein tsrtiepr t osu pporters who Tuwseicdk aelnl hmaema nas f rpeoeszsinibgle J taon buea rty here in wtheee skteanddiu fmor f othre t hWata msposs gt aspmeec.i aA l of smmoamlleenr tbsu. t equally vociferous group made their way to Castres OThlyism speica saonnd, mnoatd oen elyn ohuagveh tnhoeis te am toh rporwonm dpot wconm am meanrtkaetor rfso rt oth aesmk sife iltves but wsoa sto ino fhaacvt ea tLhei nssutpepr ohrotemrse. gWaem hea. vTeh eton mwaet chha dth tahta itn itnefnasmitoy ubso qthu ahrotmerefi naanl d awaayg aninds te Hveanrl ebquuilidn so nw iht earse tthhee sLeeainssotne rp srougprpeosrst ewso. nG tehtetin “gp lbaeyehrin odf tthhee tmeaomnt hfo” r the full a8w0 arerda lfloy rc tahne imr raokle ian dthifafet rheinsctoer.i cL evtic’st omrya. kTeh teh isse aansotnh ecur lsmeiansaotend t ow ritehm theember. team attaining the holy grail that is the Heineken European Cup, watched by C’MsOoNm eL E4I0N,0S0T0E LRe! inster supporters who used all means possible to be there in the stadium for that most special of moments. OLSC committee This season, not only have the team thrown down a marker for themselves but so too have the supporters. We have to match that intensity both home and away and even build on it as the season progresses. Getting behind the team for the full 80 really can make a difference. Let’s make this another season to remember.

C’MON LEINSTER!

OLSC Committee Brive Away:Brive Away Guide 12/10/2009 18:11 Page 8

Dear Leinster Supporter,

On behalf of the squad and management I would like to thank you for your outstanding support of the Leinster team.

We have been drawn against three tough teams this year and we are under no illusion as to how challenging the upcoming pool games at home and away to Brive, the and Irish will be. Brive are a proud French club who have recruited strongly over the summer months with real aspirations of qualifying to the knockout stages.

The Scarlets are a top class side who boast a fine tradition of fast, open attacking rugby. We have played twice in Parc y Scarlets, winning once and losing in the opening round of this year’s Magners League campaign, so we will need to put in a strong performance to get a positive result in our back-to-back games with them before Christmas.

We renew acquaintances with this year having already played them in a pre- season friendly in Donnybrook back in August. Having been runners up in the Guinness Premiership last year, they too will harbour hopes of making a big impact in both competitions.

I hope that you enjoy following the team once again in our journey across Europe this year. We are excited about the impending challenges and we are extremely appreciative of all of your support, both at home and away.

Your backing galvanised the squad to European success last year and you conducted yourselves superbly, making friends all over Europe. As champions of Europe we will be the team to beat, but the squad are determined to meet our opponents in a positive frame of mind.

I look forward to seeing you on the road.

All the best,

Michael Cheika Leinster Coach