Thomas Bosc (born 5 August 1983) is a French former professional rugby league footballer who played for the Catalans Dragons in the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

. 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 (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

, Languedoc-Roussillon, France. His father is

Jean-Marie Bosc Jean-Marie is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: * Jean-Marie Abgrall (born 1950), a French psychiatrist, criminologist, specialist in forensic medicine, cult expert, and graduate in criminal law * Jean-Marie C ...

, who is a former rugby league international for France, who played the

1975 Rugby League World Championship The 1975 Rugby League World Championship (also referred to as the World Series) was the seventh tournament for the Rugby League World Cup. The format differed from that employed in previous competitions; no single country hosted the matches, whi ...

Playing career

After coming through the ranks at Elite One Championship side

Union Treiziste Catalane 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. The team competes in the Super Lea ...

(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, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

on February 26, 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 Clint Greenshields (born 11 January 1982) is a former France international rugby league footballer who played as a for the St George Illawarra Dragons and the North Queensland Cowboys in the NRL, and for the Catalans Dragons in the Super Lea ...

, he was switched to the wing and enjoyed a successful campaign, albeit one curtailed by injury. With the retirement of Stacey Jones 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 staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final b ...

. 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 thr ...

and the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's 2013 Festival of World ...

. 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 French rugby league players Catalans Dragons players French people of Catalan descent France national rugby league team players Rugby league five-eighths Living people Sportspeople from Perpignan {{France-rugbyleague-bio-stub