Maxime Médard (born 16 November 1986) 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 plays his club rugby for French club

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

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 National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

internationally. He can play as both a full-back and on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

and is described by assistant national team coach

Émile Ntamack Émile "Milou" Ntamack (born 25 June 1970) is a French former rugby union footballer. He played professionally for Stade Toulousain and France, winning 46 caps. Ntamack made his French debut against Wales during the 1994 Five Nations Championsh ...

as an "incredible talent" that, during the 2010–11 season, was finally "realizing his potential". Medard is a two-time winner of the

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 ...

and, in 2008, won the Top 14 for the first time. Also referred to as 'The French Wolverine.'

Career

Club

Médard began his rugby union career playing for local club

Blagnac Blagnac (; ) is a Communes of France, commune of the greater Toulouse area in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in southwestern France. The city hosts the aviation museum Aeroscopia. It is the third-largest suburb of the city o ...

as a youth. His father, Alain, had previously played for the club in the 1980s alongside his uncle Francis. In 2000, he joined Stade Toulousain and spent four years developing. Médard achieved numerous honours as a youth winning the ''Gaudermen Challenge'' in three straight years from 2001 to 2003. In 2004, he made his debut with the senior team and, in the following year, turned professional. In his first year as a professional, Médard was a member of the Toulousain team that won the

2004–05 Heineken Cup The 2004–05 Heineken Cup was the tenth edition of the Heineken Cup. Competing teams, from England national rugby union team, England, France national rugby union team, France, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Italy national rugby unio ...

. Toulouse defeated league rivals

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

18–12 in the final match, though Médard was not part of the team that won the final. Médard burst onto the scene domestically in the 2007–08 season primarily due to injuries to

Vincent Clerc Vincent Clerc (born 7 May 1981) is a former France, French professional rugby union player who played on the Wing (rugby union), wing. Birth and early career Born in the city of Échirolles, suburb of the south of Grenoble (Isère), Clerc fir ...

and

Clément Poitrenaud Clément Poitrenaud (born 20 May 1982 in Castres, Tarn) is a former French rugby union footballer. His usual position is at fullback but he also plays at centre. He most recently played for South African side the in Super Rugby, having represen ...

. He featured regularly in the team that won the

that season. For his efforts, he was declared the Revelation of the Year by

National Rugby League (France) The National Rugby League (, LNR) manages the professional rugby union clubs in France, by delegation of the Minister of Sports and the French Rugby Federation. It organises and regulates the two French rugby club divisions, Top 14 The T ...

(LNR). He started the 2010 Heineken Cup Final as Toulouse defeated Biarritz. On 5 September 2010, Médard scored the fastest try in league history since 2005 after scoring after 18 seconds against

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

International

Prior to playing for the senior team, Médard was a regular international at youth level. In 2005, he was a member of the under-21 team that played at the 2005 Under 21 Rugby World Championship in Argentina. In the ensuing season, Médard won the 2006 edition of the competition that was played on home soil. He earned his first senior cap

in November 2008 during a test series match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. He appeared in subsequent test matches against the

Pacific Islanders Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subreg ...

and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

. Médard's positive play within the team resulted in the player earning selection to the team that participated in the

2009 Six Nations The 2009 Six Nations Championship, known as the RBS 6 Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 10th Six Nations Championship, and the 115th international championship, an annual rugby union competition contested by the six major European national ...

Championship. In June 2009, Médard scored the late try that sealed France's first victory over the All Blacks in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

since 1994. Médard announced his retirement from rugby in 2022.

International Tries

Honours

Club

: 2007–08,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2011–12, 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

International

Under 21 Rugby World Championship The IRB Under 21 Rugby World Cup was the premier tournament for male rugby union players under the age of 21, organised by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

References

External links

Stade Toulousain profile page

ERC Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Medard, Maxime 1986 births Living people French rugby union players H Rugby union wings Rugby union fullbacks France international rugby union players Rugby union players from Toulouse 2011 Rugby World Cup players 2019 Rugby World Cup players 21st-century French sportsmen