Cédric Heymans (born 20 July 1978) is a French former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

footballer who played mainly as a

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is exp ...

or a full-back for 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

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

and the French national team. Known for his pace and his footwork, he started his club career with

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

where he won the Heineken Cup in 1997 before moving to

Agen The commune of Agen (, ; ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne southeast of Bordeaux. Geography The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department of ...

, where he stayed four seasons. He then moved to Toulouse in 2001 and won the Heineken Cup three times and the Top 14 twice. After ten years spent with the most successful club in France, he played two seasons for

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

before retiring in 2013. Heymans scored 16 tries for the French national team within 59 caps. He won the

Six 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 ...

three times, including one Grand Slam in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Biography

Cédric Heymans was born on 20 July 1978 in Brive-la-Gaillarde,

Corrèze Corrèze (; oc, Corresa) is a department in France, named after the river Corrèze which runs through it. Although its prefecture is Tulle, its most populated city is Brive-la-Gaillarde. Corrèze is located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine regio ...

. He started rugby in Meyssac, his hometown near Brive-la-Gaillarde, and then moved to French elite club

later. Heymans made his debut for France in a match against in Paris as a reserve during the

2000 Six Nations Championship The 2000 Six Nations Championship was the first series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, following the addition of Italy to the Five Nations. It was the 106th season of the championship overall. The title was won by England. England won ...

. He made one other appearance for France that year, starting in a match against 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 ...

. In 2002, he started in two subsequent matches for the national side later that year, in the 30–10 win over in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

as well as the draw against 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 198 ...

in Paris. In 2004, he started against the , and was a reserve in a subsequent match against . He received a further three national caps that year, starting in the win over , as well as in the losses to and the

. Heymans earned 8 caps for France during 2005, playing in the

2005 Six Nations Championship The 2005 Six Nations Championship was the sixth Six Nations Championship played since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the Home Nations and Five Nations Championships, this was the 111th season of the tournament. Wales ...

matches against and Italy as well as subsequent matches against the Springboks, Australia and Canada. In 2006, he played in three tests for France during the

2006 Six Nations Championship The 2006 Six Nations Championship was the seventh series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship to be held since the competition expanded in 2000 to include Italy. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this ...

, as well as the 2006 mid-year rugby tests against Romania and the Springboks. Heymans was the only person to have won the Heineken Cup on four occasions, having won it with Brive in 1997 and then with

three times in 2003, 2005 and 2010. However after the 2017–18 Champions Cup this record was equalled by

Isa Nacewa Isakeli "Isa" Nacewa (born 22 July 1982) is a former rugby union player and coach. Born in New Zealand of Fijian descent, he represented the Fiji national team, winning one cap in 2003. Nacewa was a utility back who played for the Blues in th ...

, Johnny Sexton and Devin Toner as four time winners. He is also the youngest player to be involved in a final. In 2010, he was selected in the French Barbarians squad to play

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

on 26 November. After missing out on selection for the 2011 Six Nations Championship, Heymans was named in the French squad for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

Personal life

Heymans and his wife Justine have three children. He currently works as a commentator and pundit for

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow unde ...

, and as a chief commercial officer for French fruit manufacturing company and Brive sponsor

Andros Andros ( el, Άνδρος, ) is the northernmost island of the Greece, Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with ...

as well.

Honours

Brive

* Heineken Cup: 1996–97

Toulouse

* Heineken Cup: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2009–10 *

: 2007–08,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

France

( Grand Slam), 2006,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heymans, Cedric 1978 births Living people People from Brive-la-Gaillarde French rugby union players CA Brive players SU Agen Lot-et-Garonne players Stade Toulousain players Aviron Bayonnais players Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks France international rugby union players Sportspeople from Corrèze