Forget Stade de France, Aimé-Giral or Charles-Mathon, the true cathedral of French rugby sits nestled in the woods of the Landes. Jacques Hughes makes a pilgrimage

If rugby is the game they play in heaven - and sorry to disappoint you true believers but I suspect bowls has already got a firm foothold - then high on a hill above the Adour river midway between Dax and Mont-de-Marsan in South West France's Landes region sits its cathedral.

Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Rugby, in the village of Larriviere-Saint-Savin, is celebrating its 43rd year of service, and while the sport's many places of worship atract the masses each weekend, the tiny chapel rededicated to 'Our Lady of Rugby' by the Bishop of Dax in 1967 draws pilgrims through its tiny wooden doors every day of the week.

Some bring mementos of their clubs, and these pennants, boots, balls and jerseys, along with photos of late teammates and hand-written notes, line the walls and have turned this small hall into a shrine to the sport. So much gets left by visitors that not all of it can be displayed in the glass cabinets, but all offerings, we're told, are collected and kept safe by the chapel's officers.

So far, so clubhouse, but What sets Notre-Dame-du-Rugby apart is the statues and stained-glass windows that adorn the chapel. Even before you enter, a small statue of a young child offering a rugby ball to the Virgin Mary, designed by former Mont-de-Marsan captain Pierre Lisse, sits in an alcove at the foot of the small belltower. And that's just a taster of what's to come.

Step inside, and within the walls are four of the most unlikely stained-glass windows you'll ever see. The first, another Lisse creation called 'The Virgin at the Line-Out', depicts the Baby Jesus, held by his mother, throwing a ball towards six clamouring players. In the second, the Virgin cradles an injured player, while the third window is dedicated to rugby's travelling pilgrims: Mary's robe bears the badges of the old Five Nations as wide-brimmed pilgrims look on, accompanied by a blue, white and red cockerel.

The fourth window shows the Virgin overseeing a scrum, and features the crests of the Tri-Nations countries. Finally, overseeing it all from behind the altar, is a gold-leafed statue of Our Lady, a 19th Century creation retained from the chapel's previous incarnation.

Notre-Dame-du-Rugby is essentially the work of one man, Abbot Michel Devert, who was a priest at Dax in 1964 when three of the town's rugby players were killed in a car crash. Devert had heard of the stained-glass window dedicated to the seven Manchester United players killed in the 1958 Munich air disaster, and hit upon the idea of dedicating a chapel to honour the sport's lost players and protect present and future 'rugbymen' from harm.

With the aid of his bishop and local officials, Devert found Larriviere's Oratory of Saint Savin in a poor state of disrepair and chose it as his future Notre-Dame-du-Rugby. Local giants Dax and Stade Montois got behind the project, playing matches to raise money for the repair of the church and its access road (which remains a narrow winding track to this day).

An association, Les Amis de Notre-Dame-du-Rugby, was formed to raise funds for the repair and maintenance of the chapel. It organises events such as the annual pilgrimage on the Monday of Pentecost, which since 1993 has seen rugby players, officials and supporters from across France and further afield assemble on the chapel's courtyard. After a brief service, the pilgrims partake in those most French of indulgences, an aperitif and a pique-nique!

As well as the local teams, many sides have made a point of visiting the chapel, from early seventies giants Toulon and Nice to the 2007 French national squad, who popped in before their World Cup campaign. The Lord clearly works in mysterious ways...