Jacques Fouroux (24 July 1947 – 17 December 2005) was a French

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 and coach. He captained

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 ...

when they won the Grand Slam in 1977, and was the manager when the side repeated the feat in 1981 and 1987.

Player

Fouroux, who played as a scrum half, played for his hometown team FC Auch, as a youngster and at the end of his career (1976–1980). He started as senior with

US Cognac Union Sportive Cognaçaise is a French rugby union club, based in Cognac in the Charente département (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). They play at the Parc des Sports (capacity 2,800), and wear white and red. They were founded on 2 December 1898 and ...

until 1970 and played for La Voulte until 1976. He made his international debut in 1972 although it took him another four years to become a regular starter, as he was in competition with another, more sober, scrum-half Richard Astre of

Béziers Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...

. At 5 ft 3 ins tall, he was one of the smallest players ever to play international rugby. His size, combined with his supremely confident, almost arrogant, leadership style, meant that he was often compared with

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

; Bonaparte's nickname "the little Corporal" stuck with Fouroux throughout his career. He was particularly happy when the going got tough and was described as a "ninth forward". Fouroux captained France during both the 1976 and the 1977

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. The 1976 Championship went well for France, their only loss came against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. The French highlight of the tournament was a 30–9 victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. The following year, which was to prove to be Fouroux's final season as an international player, saw France take the Grand Slam. Aside from a 4–3 victory over England, in which England missed a number of kickable penalties, France won their second Grand Slam fairly convincingly. The same 15 players played the 4 games from beginning to end. He also played for a World XV on 9 August 1980 against in Buenos Aires, losing 36–22.Player list for World XV
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Coach

After retiring, having earned 27 international caps, 23 as captain, Fouroux became the coach of France shortly before the 1981 Five Nations tournament. Fouroux's appointment coincided with France's domination of the Five Nations; in the ten years that he managed the side, France won the Five Nations on six occasions. During the 1980s France's successes were based around their massive pack, a fact which upset a number of commentators in France who preferred a more technical approach.

Runners-up World Cup 1987

France entered the inaugural

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

as one of the favourites. The team progressed all the way to the final before losing 29–9 to the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

. Throughout his career as both a player and a coach, Fouroux was unafraid of making enemies and upsetting people. This finally caught up with him in 1990, when an embarrassing 12–6 defeat to

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 ...

provided a perfect excuse for the Fédération Française de Rugby to give him the sack.

A French championship Title private following a refereeing error with Grenoble 1993

Following this he became the coach of FC Grenoble (1992–1993), whom he took to the final of the French League in 1993 with a massive pack nicknamed ''the mammoths''. Grenoble lost the match and Fouroux, who claimed that the game had been fixed, defected to

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

. Despite overpowering pack Grenoble tilts on the score of 14–11. A try of Olivier Brouzet is denied to Grenoble and the decisive try by Gary Whetton was awarded by the referee, Daniel Salles, when in fact the defender Franck Hueber from Grenoble touched down the ball first in his try zone. This error gave the title to Castres. Salles admitted the error 13 years later. Fouroux conflict with the Federation and who was already suspicious before the match of the referee cry out conspiracy.

Administrator

In November 1994, Fouroux announced the planned creation of a 'France Rugby League' competition, which was later abandoned in favour of a new

club in Paris, to compete in Rupert Murdoch's

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

. The club,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

, only lasted two seasons in

before it collapsed however. In his final years, Fouroux had been working in Italy with rugby union side

L'Aquila L'Aquila ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in central Italy. It is the capital city of both the Abruzzo region and of the Province of L'Aquila. , it has a population of 70,967 inhabitants. Laid out within medieval walls on a hill in the wide valle ...

. He died aged 58 of a heart attack.

References

External links

Profile at rugbymuseum.co.nz

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fouroux, Jacques 1947 births 2005 deaths People from Auch French rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves French rugby union coaches French rugby league administrators France international rugby union players France national rugby union team coaches Sportspeople from Gers