Thomas Bosc (born 5 August 1983) is a French former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French language, French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan language, Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the ...

in the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

. Having spent his entire professional career with the Dragons, he is the club's all-time leading points scorer and is considered one of the finest French players to have played for the club.

Background

Bosc was born in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...

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 ...

. His father is Jean-Marie Bosc, who is a former rugby league international for France, who played the 1975 Rugby League World Championship.

Playing career

After coming through the ranks at

Elite One Championship Super XIII is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions ...

side Union Treiziste Catalane (the precursor to Catalans Dragons), Bosc was part of the Dragons' inaugural Super League squad and made his Super League debut against

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Wheldon Road (currently known as the Mend-A-Hose Jungle for sponsorship reasons) and compete in the Super League, t ...

on 26 February 2006, in what was only the club's third Super League match. He spent most of 2006 as a fringe player, occasionally called upon to play at full-back. In 2007, with the arrival of Clint Greenshields, he was switched to the wing and enjoyed a successful campaign, albeit one curtailed by injury. With the retirement of

Stacey Jones Stacey William Jones (born 7 May 1976) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He is currently the head coach of New Zealand national rugby league te ...

in 2008, Bosc was handed the opportunity to fill his considerable gap in the halves. He was a revelation in the role and went on to become a key player for the team, taking over the playmaking and goal-kicking responsibilities and setting a number of points-scoring records including becoming the first player to reach 1,000 points for the club. He was named in the France training squad and ultimately to the final France squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth World Cup for men’s rugby league national teams. It was held between 26 October and 22 November and was won by New Zealand, who defeated Australia 34–20 in the final in one of the greatest ...

. Bosc continued to represent France in the

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three ...

and the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth World Cup for men’s national rugby league teams. It took place between the 26 October and 30 November and was hosted by England and Wales (although some games were played in France and Ire ...

. In September 2017, Bosc announced he would be retiring at the end of the season.

References

External links

Super League profileFrance profileSL profile
1983 births Living people Catalans Dragons players France national rugby league team players French rugby league players French people of Catalan descent Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Perpignan 21st-century French sportsmen {{France-rugbyleague-bio-stub