Season 1949/1950

After a great 4th place finish the previous season, Stade Rennais wanted to build on squad stability to repeat the performance in the 1949/1950 season in the First Division made up of 18 clubs. Only two of the key players departed, in the shape of Henri Combot and Salvador Artigas, who left the banks of the Vilaine. On the arrivals front, there was the recruitment of English player Geoff Taylor, and Louis Pinat (who would go on to become first choice goalkeeper a few years later). Rennes' start to the league campaign was not great, scoring just one win and suffernig four defeats in their first 9 league matches. They would lie in a disappointing 16th in the table, but slowly climbed back up the table, in spite of indifferent results overall. The SRUC still managed to finish the season on a high, with a nine-match unbeaten run, losing just one match in the last ten. Their final position was 9th, with the 7th-ranked attack, and 9th-rated defence. Top scorer Jean Grumellon would even finish the league's top-scorer with 25 goals to his name. In the French Cup, the Red and Blacks were dumped out by AS Troyes in the Round of 16, losing 1-2 against a team who were 14th in the Second Division.