Jonathan Wisniewski (born 16 July 1985) is a former French

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who played as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

. He is of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

descent and is a grandnephew of Maryan Wisniewski.

Club career

Wisniewski started playing rugby at a youth level for

Gaillac Gaillac (; ) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants. Its inhabitants are called Gaillacois. Geography Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Montauban. It has ...

. In 2000, he left for

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...

, but only stayed for one year, joining the

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

youth academy in 2001 at age 16. He stayed there for four years, even making one appearance for the senior team during the 2004–05 season. He signed his first professional contract for

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, who were relegated from

Pro D2 The Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was introduced in 2000. It ...

Fédérale 1 The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale (), a.k.a. Fédérale 1 (), is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Français ...

at the end of the season, forcing Wisniewski to leave. He signed for Castres, but the arrival of New-Zealander Cameron McIntyre moved him to third-choice fly-half, and he was asked to leave during the winter break by his president. Wisniewski joined

Colomiers Colomiers (; ; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitania region in Southwestern France. With a population of 39,968 as of 2019, it is the largest suburb of the city of Toulouse, to which ...

in January, when the club was already doomed to relegation, but the six months spent there turned out to be a very positive personal experience for him, and his form caught the eye of ambitious Racing Métro manager Pierre Berbizier, who signed him the following summer. He overtook All-Black legend

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national ...

as first-choice fly-half in his first season for the club, and has remained first choice since, despite the arrival of such big names as

François Steyn François Philippus Lodewyk Steyn (born 14 May 1987) is a South African former professional rugby union player. A Utility player#Rugby union, utility back who represented his South Africa national rugby union team, country, he was able to play a ...

and

Juan Martín Hernández Juan Martín Hernández (born 7 August 1982) is an Argentine retired rugby union player. A mainstay of the Argentina national team '' The Pumas''. He played for the club Toulon in the French Top 14 competition. His 2010 move to Racing brought ...

. He was an integral part of Racing's

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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 ...

campaign, that ended in the group stage, behind

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

and Clermont, but in front of

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

International career

Wisniewski has been capped twice with the French under-21 national team (Italy in 2005 and Wales in 2006), and has also played with the France A team during the 2010 Churchill Cup. In 2009, he turned down Nick Mallett's offer to play for the Italian national team. He was subsequently called up by

Marc Lièvremont Marc Lièvremont (born 28 October 1968) is a former rugby union footballer and was the head coach of the French national rugby union team. He played as a back-row forward for France, gaining 25 caps from 1995 to 1999, and was selected in France' ...

as a replacement for the injured

François Trinh-Duc François Trinh-Duc (; born 11 November 1986) is a former French rugby union player. Trinh-Duc's regular position was as a fly-half or inside centre. Early life Trinh-Duc was born in Montpellier. Trinh-Duc started playing rugby at the age o ...

for the French national team in the 2010 autumn internationals. He injured himself a few days later as well and was himself replaced by David Skrela. He did not feature in the 30-man squad announced by Lièvremont for the

2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship, and the 117th edition of the international championship. The annual rugby uni ...

Honours

Racing Métro 92 Racing 92 () is a French professional rugby union club based in the Hauts-de-Seine department, Paris' western inner suburbs that competes in Top 14. The club plays its home matches at the 30,681-capacity domed stadium Paris La Défense Arena, l ...

(

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisniewski, Jonathan 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Albi Rugby union players from Tarn (department) French rugby union players French people of Polish descent Rugby union fly-halves Castres Olympique players FC Grenoble Rugby players Racing 92 players RC Toulon players Stade Toulousain players 21st-century French sportsmen