France_national_rugby_league_team, France_national_rugby_league_team Information, France_national_rugby_league


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France

Nickname

Les Tricolores

Association

Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII

Region

Europe

Head coach

Gilles Dumas

Captain

Jerome Guisset

Most caps

Puig Aubert (46)

RLIF ranking

5th





National Uniform

First international

England 32 - 21 France

(Paris, France; 15 April 1934)

Biggest win

Serbia 0 - 120 France

(Beirut, Lebanon; 22 October 2003)

Biggest defeat

Australia 58 - 0 France

(Parramatta, Australia; 6 July 1994)

World Cup

Appearances

12 (First in 1954)

Best result

Runners-up, 1954; 1968

The French national rugby league team are often nicknamed les chanteclairs, after the cockerel which is the emblem of the team or as les tricolores. The team is administered by the Fédération Francaise de Rugby à Treize.

The French club Les Catalans began playing in the Super League (Europe) in 2006. It is hoped that the Catalans will form the basis of the French national team just as the New Zealand Warriors form the backbone of the New Zealand national team.

History

Thirties and forties

On New Year’s Eve 1933, England and Australia played in Paris – the first game of rugby league in France. The match was one sided, with Australia winning 63-13 in front of a crowd of 5,000, but the seed was sown. French rugby union players, disgruntled that France had been suspended from the Five Nations Championship, formed the \'Ligue Francaise de Rugby a XIII\' on the 6th April 1934. Jean Galia, a former rugby union international and champion boxer, lead France on a six match tour of England in 1934 and they recorded their one win at Hull. The national team’s first game was in Paris on 15th April 1934, losing 21-32 to England in front of a crowd of 20,000. By 1939 the French league had 155 clubs and the national side beat England and Wales to take the European championship.

The game of rugby league suffered in France during the Second World War, as the French rugby union authorities worked with the collaborating Vichy regime to have rugby league banned. Some players and officials of the sport were punished (not reinstated in the French rugby union), whilst some of the assets of the rugby league and its clubs were handed over to the union. (See:history of rugby league#france).

After the war the French game was re-established and the French became one of rugby league’s major powers, competing in the Rugby League World Cup and major international series against Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Post war

On 1951, Saturday 3rd November, France met "Other Nationalities" in an International Championship match at the Boulevard, Hull which became known as the "Battle of the Boulevard". Other Nationalities won 17-14 but the match centred on the behaviour of Edouard Ponsinet, who was involved in most of the violence. The Other Nationalities were down to eleven players at one stage, with Arthur Clues being the most serious casualty, hospitalised with head injuries. Eventually Ponsinet was sent off, ten minutes from time after breaking the nose of Jeff Burke. Despite this defeat France went on to retain the title with home victories over England and Wales.

In 1951 France embarked on their first ever tour of Australasia, led by the legendary chain-smoking fullback Puig Aubert. Their flamboyant style of unorthodox attacking rugby attracted huge crowds. When the two nations met for the first Test the previous month, the match became the first "all ticket" international to be staged at Sydney Cricket Ground, and attracted a crowd of over 60,000. On Saturday 30 June 1951, Australia secured a hard-fought Second Test victory over France in Brisbane by 23 points to 11. The third Test took place at Sydney Cricket Ground three weeks later. Late tries from Duncan Hall and Brian Davies could not prevent the Kangaroos from suffering an embarrassing 35-14 defeat. France played 28 matches during the three-month tour, winning 21 matches, drawing two and losing five.

France repeated the feat by winning again in 1955. The 1951 and 1955 French sides that toured Australia are still regarded as two of the strongest sides ever to tour that country.

France donated the original World Cup trophy, but they have never won it. The closest they went to getting their hands on it was in the very first World Cup in 1954, when they went down narrowly, 16-12, to Great Britain in the final in Parc des Princes, Paris.

On Sunday 8th December 1963, France defeated the Aussies in first Test of a three Test series during the Kangaroo tour of Europe. The match was held in Bordeaux.

The French have appeared in one other World Cup final, in 1968, when they finished runner-up to Australia in Sydney, after beating both Great Britain and New Zealand to qualify.

In 1978 France beat the Kangaroos 13-10 and 11-10 which remained Australia\'s last failed attempt to win an international series or competition until 2005.

Eighties, nineties and the new millennium

In 1990 a Great Britain team including Shaun Edwards, Garry Schofield, Martin Offiah and Denis Betts were embarrassed by a 25-18 loss, which was France’s first victory on English soil for 23 years.

The French team met Papua New Guinea on Sunday 30 June 1991 in Rabaul, where they were beaten 28-24. On Sunday 7th July 1991, the two sides met again for a World Cup encounter at Danny Leahy Oval, Goroka. The heat and humidity caused France all kinds of problems, but the Tricolores squeezed home 20-18.

On Sunday 27 October 1991, the first ever Test match involving the Soviet Union took place at the Stade Georges Lyvet, Villeurbanne, near Lyon, France. The Bears were beaten 26-6 by France.

The Papua New Guinea national team wound up their 1991 tour of Europe with a World Cup rated Test match against France, which was played on Sunday 24 November at the Stade Albert Domec, Carcassonne. France defeated their visitors 28-14.

In the 1995 World Cup France had to play the Samoans three days after taking a physical pounding from the Welsh in Cardiff.

France took on Italy at the Parc des Sports, Avignon on Wednesday 17 November 1999. France needed a draw to win the Mediterranean Cup. The Italians, drawn mainly from Sydney’s Metropolitan Cup competition, registered a memorable 14-10 victory, which handed the cup to the Lebanon.

France travelled to Pretoria for a match against South Africa on Saturday 3rd November 2001. The French were too good for a young and inexperienced South African side. They scored four tries in each half, and won 44-6 after leading 24-0 at half-time.

In 2002 France lost 36-6 to Lebanon in Tripoli (Lebanon).

In 2004 the French returned to form with a narrow 20-24 defeat of New Zealand and a losing but creditable performance against Australia. However, the game was played under modified rules and was not at the time considered an official test match. Shortly afterwards the game was retrospectively awarded test status.

In 2005, the French suffered a 44-12 defeat against Australia in Perpignan. Unlike their last match against Australia, this game was played under normal rules and is considered a regular test match. This was their best performance in an official test match against Australia since 1990.

France will be at the 2008 World Cup as they have been granted automatic qualification.

Players

Possible 2008 World Cup Squad

As of October 17, 2007:

Number	Name	DOB	Height	Weight	Position	Club	Caps (points)
1	Thomas Bosc	May 21, 1983	1.79 m	86 kg	Full back	Les Catalans	5 (14)
2	Frédéric Vaccari	May 2, 1979	1.67 m	84 kg	Wing	Toulouse	11 ( )
3	Sébastien Planas	March 1, 1983	1.79 m	86 kg	Centre	Toulouse	2 ( )
4	Sylvain Houlès	May 1, 1982	1.75 m	96 kg	Centre	Toulouse	13 ( )
5	Syril Stacul	May 2, 1977	1.68 m	95 kg	Wing	Les Catalans	0 ( )
6	Christophe Moly	July 16, 1982	1.79 m	83 kg	Stand-off	Carcassonne	8 ( )
7	Maxime Greseque	March 18,1981	1.75 m	80 kg	Scrum Half	Wakefield	18 ( )
8	David Ferriol	April 2, 1980	1.79 m	86 kg	Prop	Les Catalans	22 ( )
9	Julien RinaldiC	April 27, 1979	1.77 m	86 kg	Hooker	Harlequins	29 ( )
10	Adel Fellous	February 16, 1978	1.83 m	100 kg	Prop	Hull F.C.	24 ( )
11	Sébastien Raguin	February 14, 1980	1.88 m	113 kg	Second Row	Les Catalans	16 ( )
12	Cyril Gossard	August 2, 1980	1.68 m	100 kg	Second Row	Les Catalans	38 ( )
13	Mathieu Griffi	March 2, 1983	1.87 m	105 kg	Loose forward	Les Catalans	2 ( )
14	Jean-Christophe Borlin	December 21, 1976	1.81 m	103 kg	Prop	St Gaudens	7 ( )
15	James Wynne	Sept 16, 1976	1.81 m	88 kg	Scrum-half	Lézignan	3 ( )
16	Rémi Casty	May 9, 1984	1.78 m	106 kg	Prop	Les Catalans	12 ( )
17	Teddy Sadaoui	April 18, 1983	1.90 m	105 kg	Centre	Carcassonne	14 ( )
18	Olivier Elima	May 19, 1983	1.87 m	106 kg	Second Row	Les Catalans	14 ( )
19	Laurent Carrasco	Sept 6, 1976	1.61 m	86 kg	Loose forward	Lézignan	3 ( )
20	Eric Anselme	May 20, 1978	1.87 m	95 kg	Second Row	St Gaudens	11 ( )
21	Jerome Guisset	May 9, 1984	1.78 m	106 kg	Prop	Les Catalans	12 ( )
22	David Berthezène	April 27, 1976	1.77 m	86 kg	Hooker	Salford City Reds	29 ( )
23	Aurélien Cologni	July 3, 1975	1.87 m	95 kg	Second Row	Celtic Crusaders	11 ( )
24	Constant Villegas	March 7, 1979	1.87 m	95 kg	Second Row	Toulouse	4 ( )
25	Olivier Charles	May 27, 1978	1.87 m	95 kg	Second Row	Villefranche XIII Aveyron	8 ( )
26	Renaud Guigue	August 8, 1975	1.87 m	95 kg	Full Back	Carpentras XIII	13 ( )
27	Frédéric Zitter	October 2, 1971	1.87 m	95 kg	Wing	Toulouse	14 ( )
28	Julien Touxagas	June 2, 1972	1.79 m	97 kg	?????	Les Catalans	17 (18)
29	Lionel Teixido	April 2, 1976	1.75 m	88 kg	Hooker	Les Catalans	19 (12)
30	Vincent Duport	November 17, 1975	1.75 m	88 kg	Wing	Les Catalans	19 (12)

Possible 2008 World Cup Team

France Possible 2008 World Cup Team

8 David Ferriol		9 Julien Rinaldi(C)		10 Adel Fellous
	11 Sébastien Raguin		12 Cyril Gossard
		13 Mathieu Griffi

		7 Maxime Greseque
			6 Christophe Moly
				4 Sylvain Houles
					3 Sébastien Planas
5 Cyril Stacul						2 Frédéric Vaccari
			1 Thomas Bosc

Replacements

Notable past players

External links

v • d • e Rugby League in France
Federation	Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII
National Team	France les Chanteclairs
Domestic Competitions	Super League Europe · Elite One Championship · Elite Two Championship · Lord Derby Cup
Super League Europe Teams	Catalans Dragons
Seasons	XI · XII · XIII
Elite One Championship Teams Former Teams	RC Albi · AS Carcassonne · Carpentras XIII · Les Catalans · Lézignan Sangliers · Limoux Grizzlies · Lyon Villeurbanne · Pia Donkeys · Saint-Gaudens Bears · Toulouse Olympique · Villeneuve Leopards
Seasons	I · II · III · IV · V