France - near rugby towns

[AmperoBlue]

DH would like a holiday place in France that we can retire too.

It needs to be a rugby town preferably close to a big club. We had a look at Toulouse and Castre. Toulouse didn’t grab either of us for charm and Castre was frankly quite odd.
This year we are back on the search. We have Toulon and Montpellier to see but both have pretty high crime rates as to be expected in cities..Anyone had any experience of a charming, lively, rugby towns with low crime rates?

Bordeaux

Perpignan?
They have both Union and league teams.

La Rochelle, gorgeous beaches near by and great old town vibe. Flights are more frequent now from UK too.

Not sure if it's far enough south though? House prices are quite good over there now ( for buyers)

Béziers

Clermont? I think the Auvergne region looks lovely.

You could buy a place near Albi, which is about an hour from Toulouse.

Thanks! We have watched a few games in Clermont. They are definitely rugby fans. I did like the town although it felt a bit too north for me.
Perpignan is on the list.
Trying to narrow the search area is tricky. I think we need to rent somewhere first.

I'm a bit late to this but have you thought about La Ciotat? It's next to Cassis (on the same train line as Toulon) and quite nice. I've been in the winter and it's still very nice in the off season.

La Ciotat looks pretty good, thanks for that. We are visiting Toulon next month so maybe we’ll have a look.

I liked carqueraine, just outside Toulon. la seyne sur mer maybe worth a look, went there a few years back and seemed to be on the up iykwim. Think it is possible to take a boat over the bay into Toulon right next to the stadium ( memory a bit hazy.). I know Bandol very well and love it , and la ciotat is definitely worth a look. SAnary sur mer next to
Bandol is lovely as well. Have a great trip.

I really liked toulouse especially the big square where all the restaurants etc were

IIRC , some expat Rugby players live in Collioure, which I loved when we went in 2019:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collioure

I've just checked where some Perpignan players live - Canet Plage.

My parents have lived near Angeles Sur mer for over 20 years. Def rugby country round there. That whole coast u to bezier and Narbonne is lovely. But, Ryan air have cut back hugely on flights to bezier, Perpignan and girona (just over the border) esp in winter and it is a long slog by road. They had to fly via Barcelona in March which is much more expensive. So something to bare in mind if you need to travel back, or expect visitors.

Argeles Sur mer that is, autocorrect changed it!

Amazing thanks, I’m looking all these up .
Yes I noticed that flights are thinning out and there’s very few out of season.
Still it’s an exciting prospect so hopefully we’ll find a workable place.