Lausanne University Club Rugby (LUC Rugby; also Lausanne Université Club Rugby) is a rugby club in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1971 by students of the University of Lausanne (UNIL) and the EPFL. In 2025/26 its men's first XV played in the LNA and its reserve team won the Excellence A title. The club also has men's and women's sevens, a women's XV, a touch rugby team and a rugby school for young children.
History
The club calls itself the first sports club ever created within UNIL and the EPFL, and the first of the academic clubs to take flight. In June 1969 an EPFL student paper on collective play declared: "Here individualism can no longer exist; every move owes its success only to common understanding and work." The club credits a then-EPFL student with giving the kick-off to university rugby in Lausanne.
A former player, looking back in 2018, remembers a multicultural student side in the 1970s that had few resources and shared the Chavannes ground with the other Lausanne clubs. In the 1980s, as there was no second team, some members really had to believe in the club to stay. The club began with a single men's XV. It added a reserve team a few years later, a men's sevens team in 2018, a women's sevens team in 2019, the Touch Lakers in 2022, and a women's XV and a rugby school in 2026. The men's sevens team was formed in the 2018/19 season to take part in the Swiss Super Sevens. The Touch Lakers, a mixed touch rugby group, were founded in 2012 and joined LUC in 2022.
The club has kept progressing since winning the LNC, the third Swiss division, in 2010. It then won the LNB title the following year and so reached the highest league in Swiss rugby. The club's first Swiss Cup final and a championship semi-final came in 2016/17. The first team played an LNB final in 2023/24, and the club calls the move up that followed a return to the LNA. The first XV played in the LNA in 2024/25 and 2025/26. On 2 May 2026 it lost 12–27 at home to Yverdon. It was not among the four teams in the 2025/26 LNA play-offs, which were contested by Yverdon, Stade Lausanne, Avusy and GC Zurich.
By August 2026 the club had created a women's XV, which it called a new chapter in its history; the team was still being built.
Honours
- LNC champions (third division), men: 2010
- LNB champions, men: the year after the 2010 LNC title, taking the club into the LNA
- Excellence A champions, reserve team: 2025/26, beating Stade Lausanne II 37–5 in the final
By the club's count, its men's sevens team won the domestic title in 2025/26 and went unbeaten all season, and the team has reached five Super Sevens finals in seven years. The men won the 2025/26 Swiss Super Sevens final against Yverdon, and the women took silver. By their own count, the LUC Touch Lakers have twice won the Swiss Cup, the national touch championship.
Ground
The club plays at the Centre Sportif Universitaire de Dorigny. Its changing rooms are next to the tennis courts and the synthetic rugby pitch. The venue is also known as Dorigny – Centre Sportif. The club's postal address is Service des sports UNIL / EPFL, CH-1015 Lausanne. The rugby school uses separate venues: Rugbytots sessions take place at the Collège des Pâquis, Chemin des Pâquis 2, 1025 Saint-Sulpice; the under-8 and under-10 weekday sessions are held at the Béthusy / Charles Secrétan crossing, 1005 Lausanne, near the Ours metro stop; and Saturday sessions meet at the Place de la Riponne, on the Great Escape terrace.
Teams and training
As of August 2026, the teams were:
| Team | Details |
|---|---|
| Men's first XV | LNA in 2025/26 |
| LUC Rugby 2 (men's reserve) | Excellence A in 2025/26 |
| Women's XV | Newly created, still being built |
| Men's sevens | Formed in 2018/19 to play in the Swiss Super Sevens |
| Women's sevens | Formed in 2019/20; plays in the Swiss Super Sevens |
| LUC Touch Lakers | Mixed touch rugby |
| Rugby school | Children aged 2 to 10: Rugbytots (ages 2 to 6), under-8 and under-10 |
Outdoor training times as of August 2026, for September to late October and March to July:
| Team | Training |
|---|---|
| Men's XV | Tuesday and Thursday 19:30–21:30 |
| Women's XV and women's sevens | Monday and Wednesday 19:30–21:30 |
| Men's sevens | Wednesday 19:45–21:30 |
| Touch | Monday and Thursday 19:30–21:00 |
The grass pitches are closed from November to March, and times may change. Touch starts at 19:00 in summer.
The season's club subscriptions in August 2026 were:
- Men's XV: CHF 130 for students and the unemployed, CHF 190 for others
- Women's XV and sevens: CHF 100 for students and the unemployed, CHF 130 for others
- Mixed touch: CHF 120 for students and the unemployed, CHF 170 for others
A half subscription applies to players who join or leave mid-season, and the Swiss Rugby licence needed for official matches is paid separately. The women's XV welcomes both beginners and experienced players. The women's sevens, men's sevens and touch teams also welcome beginners.
For children aged 2 to 6 the rugby school works with Rugbytots. Children of all origins, religions and sexes are welcome at the school. The first two discovery sessions are free for categories aged 7 and over. The 2026/27 fee for children over 7 was CHF 190, including the Swiss Rugby licence and a kit of match shirt, shorts, socks and mouthguard.
Club life
The club's motto is "Plus qu'un club, le LUC est une famille" ("More than a club, LUC is a family"). Members are known as Luciens (Luciennes for women), as in the saying "Lucien un jour, Lucien toujours" ("Once a Lucien, always a Lucien"). The touch team is nicknamed "Les Lakers". The club's colours are blue and white.
The XV d'Or is the club's supporters' circle, with annual subscriptions of CHF 200 for individuals and CHF 400 for organisations. Its members can sign up for "Radio Canette" to follow matches live and for the club newsletter, "P'tit LUC". Former players go on an annual tour known as the "Stolen Chicken", a weekend in a Six Nations host city; the destination for 2027 is Bucharest. The club also streams its matches live.
The club quotes Pierre Villepreux: "In a rugby team there are no passengers, only a crew." It invites players to join it "on the most beautiful pitch in the world". The club's public partners are the Fonds du Sport Vaudois, the City of Lausanne's sports service and Sports Universitaires Lausanne.