The 1935 Cup Winners' Match was a single-game rugby league football contest pitting Challenge Cup winners Castleford RLFC against Coupe de France winners US Lyon-Villeurbanne on 12 May 1935.^[2]

Quick Facts Cup Winners' Game (), Total ...

1935 (1935) Cup Winners' Game  ()
1 2 Total LYO 11 10 21 CAS 8 16 24
Date	12 May 1935
Stadium	Stade Buffalo
Location	Montrouge, Seine, France
Referee	A.S. Dobson[1]
Broadcast partners
Broadcasters	n/a

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The Rugby Football League of England played an active role in the introduction of its code to France, and was eager to support its fledgling equivalent, the Ligue de Rugby à XIII, by agreeing to many Anglo-French fixtures, which served as both teaching tools and promotional vehicles for the game thanks to the longstanding rivalry between the two countries. A grand final between the winners of both national cups was considered as soon as both organizations started working together on the 1934–35 schedule in May 1934.^[3] The date of the game was announced as part of the season's provisional schedule in late August 1934.^[4] Paris was chosen as a location in mid-October 1934, once the French Rugby League was guaranteed the use of a stadium by the capital's authorities, initially Vincennes Municipal Stadium. Most Paris games, including this one, were eventually relocated to Stade Buffalo, the league's preferred venue, after it fought back lobbying efforts by the French Rugby Union to bar them access.^[5] A game between the French champions Villeneuve and RFL champions Swinton RLFC was also organized in the Bordeaux suburb of Talence.^[6] Before both were assigned to French cities, each contest was planned to alternate between a French and a British host.^[7] Final confirmation of the event's go-ahead was received by the Brittons in early May, ahead of the Challenge Cup final.^[8]

The Castleford players, mostly small-town, working-class men, were apparently delighted with the invitation to visit Paris, as the majority of the non-internationals were said to have never traveled outside of the United Kingdom.^[9] Before the game, the French press considered Castleford narrow favorites. The English side was viewed as a surprise Challenge Cup winner while Lyon, although still inexperienced in the new code, was a top French team, evening the odds somewhat.^[10][11] Paris-based daily L'Intransigeant dubbed the upcoming contest Le match des deux coupes (lit. 'The Match of the Two Cups').^[12]

Lyon and Castleford wore different kits than those with which they have been identified in the modern era; Lyon's was described as red with black stripes, and Castleford's as white with yellow and orange trims.^[16]

The game was a see-saw affair. Lyon thought it had opened the score by Lambert, but the try was disallowed due to a forward pass. Right after Castleford temporarily lost Adams on a hit, Arthur Atkinson intercepted the ball deep into the French zone managed to score the try, which was converted. Lyon pushed back and scored a try by Barbazanges, but it was not converted. Sadler then rushed though the Lyon defense to notch a coast-to-coast try that restored a five-point lead for his team. Adkinson managed a second interception and appeared to score, but his try was disallowed as well. Lyon's star Samatan produced a strong individual effort of his own to earn the French team a try, which was converted, making things square again. Atkinson missed a penalty kick, which hit the post. Barnoud recovered from a tackle by Lewis to score a corner try which, despite a missed conversion, gave Lyon a surprise 11–8 lead at half time.

Returning from intermission, Castleford took control of the game and dominated much of the next twenty minutes,^[15] scoring three successive tries by Croston, Sadler and Cuniffe, only one of which was converted. Lyon recovered late and countered with two tries by Barbazanges and Samatan. Both were converted, allowing the French team to pull even with two minutes to go.^[15] However, Lyon's defense broke down in the final moments of the game, and Atkinson scored a power try which, while slightly lucky, was clearly valid and decided the outcome in favor of the guest team on a score of 21–18.^[15]

Castleford came as advertised and played a physical game, which some linked to its blue collar ethos and compared to the FC Lézignan team that had taken the French Rugby Union Championship by surprise a few years prior (Lézignan would in fact switch codes a few years later and become a league mainstay).^[15] Lyon-Villeurbanne tried its best to contain the opposing pack in the absence of its top forward Joseph Griffard, who was still reeling from an ankle injury and was substituted by Barcella.^[9][15] But the English also showed unexpected flair, and third line player Edward "Ted" Sadler was deemed the best man on the field thanks to his combination of skill and athleticism.^[14]

The game was not without controversy, as tempers flared on the field following a rough hand-off by Atkinson.^[19] The referee was also criticized for penalizing several scrum feeds by Mathon in the final stretch, which took the momentum away from Lyon.^[20] However, the standard of play was praised, with Le Jour calling the game the best seen in Paris all year,^[20] and La Dépêche's correspondent pointing that it belied the accusations of some rugby league detractors about its lack of physicality, and was anything but an exhibition.^[15] Castleford captain Atkinson was magnanimous in victory, declaring after the game that his squad "did not expect to find in Lyon-Villeurbanne such a brilliant team", although he "nonetheless found the backline superior to the forwards", who "[did] not yet possess the Brittons' experience when its comes to playing scrums".^[21]

The contest was originally supposed to be an annual event, featuring the current holders of France and England's knockout cups.^[10] However, the 1936 Challenge Cup winners Leeds RLFC pulled out of their trip to play Coupe de France winners Côte Basque XIII, citing injuries to seven of their players. The RFL then designated Huddersfield C & AC, one of its better teams, to replace them.^[24] However, Huddersfield pulled out as well, arguing that it had stopped training three weeks prior, and would be missing two of its top stars: Australian Ray Markham, who had traveled to his home country, and Dennis Madden who was seriously ill.^[25] The game, slated for 10 May 1936, was replaced by a contest between the winner of the Coupe de France and the winner of the French championship (XIII Catalan), which was played on the same date in Perpignan and won by the former by a score of 16–15.^[26]