Thierry Dusautoir (; born 18 November 1981) is a French former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who last played for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at international level and

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and fr ...

in the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

club competition. Dusautoir was considered a strong ball carrier and possessed incredibly powerful and effective tackling. He broke the record for most tackles in a match, making 38 tackles against the All Blacks in the 2007 World Cup. He was considered one of, if not the best tackler in the world. He first played for Bordeaux-Bègles before moving to US Colomiers for one season, and then signed with

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spa ...

. He played in the final of the 2005-06 Heineken Cup at

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national r ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, which Biarritz lost to Irish team

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...

23–19. Despite losing the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

, Biarritz did manage to win the final of the 2005-06 Top 14 40–13 against Toulouse. He was however part of the side that won the 2010 Heineken Cup Final. Dusautoir was the World Rugby Player of the Year in 2011, the second French player to win the award. He also owns the record of most tackles in an international rugby game (38 tackles against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

in 2007).

International career

Dusautoir was called up into the French squad for tests during June 2006 against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and the Springboks. He made his debut for France in a test against Romania on 17 June 2006 at Cotroceni Stadium in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

, which saw France defeat the Romanians 62–14 and Dusautoir scoring a try on his debut. He played in the subsequent match against the Springboks at Newlands Stadium in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

with France again emerging as the victors. He left Biarritz and signed for Toulouse in 2006. He is perhaps most famous for his try against

in the quarter final of the 2007 World Cup in Cardiff in which he famously made 38 tackles, two more than the entire All Blacks side. He was nominated for world player of the year solely on this performance. His second-half score helped France to a 20–18 victory over the tournament favourites, despite the fact that he was not in the original 30-man squad and was only called up as a replacement for the injured Elvis Vermeulen. He also captained France to a famous 27–22 win over New Zealand in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

on 13 June 2009. He was linked with

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby ( ga, Rugbaí Laighean) is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland and the most successful Irish team domestically. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugb ...

where he would have replaced

Rocky Elsom Rocky Elsom (born 14 February 1983) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played the positions of flanker and number eight. He was selected for 75 caps for Australia. He is the most capped Australian blindside flanker. Elsom was the 7 ...

2011 Rugby World Cup

Dusautoir captained France to the

2011 Rugby World Cup Final The 2011 Rugby World Cup Final was a rugby union match between France and New Zealand, to determine the winner of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The match took place on 23 October 2011 at Eden Park, in Auckland, New Zealand. New Zealand won the match 8 ...

against the hosts

, in which he scored France's only try (one of two for the entire game) in the 47th minute (New Zealand's Tony Woodcock scoring the other for the All Blacks) and made 22 tackles, for which he received the Man of the Match award. On the night of the final, one could hear chants of "Dusautoir" coming from the many bars showing the game around the Auckland waterfront. He was named the 2011 IRB International Player of the Year, thus becoming the second player from France to win the award after former captain

Fabien Galthié Fabien Galthié (; born 20 March 1969) is a French rugby union coach and former player, he is currently the head coach of the French national team. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played much of his club rugby for Colomiers, and later ...

in 2002. Dusautoir won the award over players such as

Jerome Kaino Jerome Kaino (born 6 April 1983) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. In 2004, he was named IRB International Under-21 player of the year. In 2011, he was named the New Zealand Rugby player of the year, finishing ahead of Richie McCaw ...

and

Ma'a Nonu Ma'a Allan Nonu (; born 21 May 1982) is a professional rugby union player from New Zealand who currently plays for the San Diego Legion in Major League Rugby (MLR). He plays in the inside centre, but can also cover outside centre and wing. ...

. In an interview on ''Total Rugby'' in July 2012, Dusautoir spoke about a perceived lack of respect towards his team during the 2011 World Cup. He cited a particular picture from the ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'' in the week leading up to the Final which showed

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in ...

and

Israel Dagg Israel Jamahl Akuhata Dagg (born 6 June 1988) is a former New Zealand rugby union player who played for the Crusaders in Super Rugby. He has also played for the New Zealand Sevens team, and represents Hawkes Bay in the ITM Cup. Dagg played in ...

laughing during training, with the caption '80 minutes before laughing'. Dusautoir also shared about how France's uncomplicated game plan in the Final nearly resulted in a memorable upset:

Our strategy in that match was to resist as long as possible. Having seen the way we were playing throughout the tournament we were aware that we were not at the same level as the All Blacks. That was pretty obvious. But by this time we were sure we were mentally prepared and we were ready to make the most of the opportunity... During the match we played well but we would have liked to have scored a drop goal on top of the great defence we produced. But we played an uncomplicated game and that is ultimately how we managed to surprise them so much.

2012–2015

France's new head coach Philippe Saint-André retained Dusautoir as captain for the

2012 Six Nations Championship The 2012 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2012 RBS 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 13th series of the Six Nations Championship. The annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship wa ...

, in which France finished fourth. On 21 October 2012, in a

match against

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Vene ...

, Dusautoir twisted his knee in a tackle, suffering a twisted lateral ligament with a slight tear. The injury is expected to sideline him for four to six weeks, meaning that he would miss the 2012 November Tests. On 11 January 2013, Dusautoir was named in the initial training squad for the 2013 Six Nations Championship, but Saint-André decided to retain

Pascal Papé Pascal Papé (; born 5 October 1980) is a former French rugby union footballer. Papé played as a lock, and currently most recently represented Stade Français in club rugby, after spending many years at Bourgoin. He also spent one season at Cas ...

as captain in order to give Dusautoir time to ease his way back into the international team. Dusautoir lead France to the knockout rounds of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where they played against New Zealand in the quarter finals, losing 62–13. Dusautoir announced his retirement from international rugby following the tournament. He is the second French captain after Fabien Pelous to have beaten Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

International tries

Honours

Biarritz Olympique * French Champions (2):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

Runners Up:

Stade Toulousain

* French Champions (3):

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Winners:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Runners Up:

France

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

Runners up:

* Six Nations Champions:

* Grand Slam Winners:

Individual * World Rugby Player of the Year: 2011

Personal life

Dusautoir was born in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, Côte d'Ivoire. He has a French father and Ivorian mother. He did not take up rugby until he was 16; before that, his favourite sport was

judo is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo") ...

. He is a graduate chemical engineer. He also studied in MBA program at emlyon business school.

References

External links

ESPN Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dusautoir, Thierry 1981 births Emlyon Business School alumni Sportspeople from Abidjan Ivorian rugby union players French rugby union players Living people Rugby union flankers Biarritz Olympique players Stade Toulousain players French sportspeople of Ivorian descent France international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players World Rugby Awards winners CA Bordeaux-Bègles Gironde players US Colomiers players CA Périgueux players People from Périgueux Sportspeople from Dordogne