Michel Vannier (21 July 1931 – 27 June 1991) was a French international

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. Born in

Étain, Meuse Étain () is a Communes of France, commune in the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Geography Étain is situated on the river Orne (river), Orne, approximately to the east north ea ...

, Vannier started out as an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player, until being recruited by a local rugby coach who had watched him on the football field. He learned his rugby with Verdun–based club SAV Rugby and afterwards played in Paris for

Racing Club de France Racing Club de France, also known as RCF, is a French multi-sport club that was founded on 20 April 1882 under the name Racing Club. Racing Club changed its name to Racing Club de France (RCF) on 21 November 1885. The club is located at the Bois ...

, where he established a place at fullback. Vannier was capped 43 times for

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 ...

between 1953 and 1961 as a goal–kicking fullback, amassing a total of 180 points. He featured in four

Five Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Six Nations, branded as Guinness M6N) is an annual international rugby union competition by the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. It is the oldest sports tournament contes ...

–winning campaigns and by the late 1950s was regarded as one of the world's best fullbacks. On France's 1958 tour of South Africa, Vannier was badly injured playing against a combined provincial team, when future Springbok Robert Twigge landed on the Frenchman's leg in the process of scoring a try. He ruptured both cruciate ligaments as a result and doctors considered amputating the injured leg during his stay in a Johannesburg hospital. After recovering, Vannier made a return for France in the 1960 Five Nations and finished his international career with a tour of Australia/New Zealand the following year. In 1991, Vannier died of a heart attack at his home in

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

. Vannier had a stand in the

Stade Léo Lagrange Stade Léo Lagrange () is a stadium in Besançon, France. It is currently used for football matches and is the home stadium of Racing Besançon. The stadium holds 10,500 spectators. On 31 January 2014, it hosted a Six Nations Under 20s Champi ...

named after him in 2011.

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Michel Vannier
at Fédération Française de Rugby {{DEFAULTSORT:Vannier, Michel 1931 births 1991 deaths French rugby union players France international rugby union players Rugby union fullbacks Racing 92 players Sportspeople from Meuse (department) 20th-century French sportsmen Rugby union players from Grand Est

See also

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