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| Birth name | Damien Traille | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 12 June 1979 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Pau, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 105 kg (16 st 7 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Damien Traille (born 12 June 1979) is a former French rugby union player. He usually played as a centre, full-back and fly-half.
He has played for France, including at the 2003 Rugby World Cup and the 2011 Rugby World Cup as well as France's Six Nations victories in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
He played for Pau from the late 1990s through to 2004, when he moved to his current club, Biarritz. Traille made his debut for France in 2001 in a match against the Springboks in Paris. France won the match 20 points to 10. He subsequently made a further two appearances for the national side that year, playing in a test against Australia in Marseille which was won by one point, with the final score 14 to 13 to France, as well as a test against Fiji in St Etienne, which France won by over 60 points.
Traille played in all of France's matches during the 2002 Six Nations Championship. France won all of their five games, which saw them complete a grandslam and win the tournament. He received another six caps for France later that year, playing in tests against Argentina, Australia, South Africa, the All Blacks and Canada.
In 2003 Traille played in all of France's matches during the 2003 Six Nations Championship, with France winning three of their five games. He played five more times for France prior to the World Cup that year; in the two losses to Argentina and the loss to the All Blacks as well as the win over Romania and a 17 to 16 win over England.
Traille was included in France's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad in Australia and played in all of France's five pool matches. France won all their pool games against Fiji, Scotland, Japan and the United States, which saw France finish at the top of their pool. France lost to the All Blacks in the third/fourth place play-off.
The following year, Traille was a part of France's grandslam victory at the 2004 Six Nations Championship, playing in all of their five victories. He was a part of the 2005 Six Nations Championship as well, playing in all the matches, with France only losing the one game to Wales. He played tests against Australia and South Africa later in the year as well.
Traille played in three of France's matches as the 2006 Six Nations Championship, in the wins over Italy, England and Wales. Biarritz made it to the final of the 2005-06 Heineken Cup, but lost to Munster. Biarritz then won the 2005-06 Top 14, defeating Stade Toulousain in the final.
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of Australia. The team first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against the touring British Isles team.
The England men’s national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions, winning the Grand Slam 14 times and the Triple Crown 26 times, making them the most successful outright winners in the tournament's history. They are currently the only team from the Northern Hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup, having won the tournament in 2003, and have been runners-up on three further occasions.
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union. Fiji competed in the Pacific Tri-Nations and now competes in its successor tournament Pacific Nations Cup. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. They have beaten the major rugby playing sides of Wales, Scotland, Australia, France, Argentina and England. The only major sides Fiji are yet to beat are New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.
Edward Jones is an Australian rugby union coach and former player. He currently coaches the Australia national rugby union team after returning to replace Dave Rennie in January 2023 following his sacking from England. He was the head coach of the England national team from 2015 to 2022. His first stint coaching the Wallabies was between 2001–2005 where he coached them to successful Bledisloe Cup games and a Rugby World Cup final.
Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque, usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Basque city of Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine which competes in the Pro D2, the second division of French rugby. Biarritz plays its home matches at the Parc des Sports Aguiléra, which is a multi-use stadium in Biarritz and which has a capacity of around 13,500 people, though for games that need a larger capacity, Biarritz may play at the Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastián. Biarritz play in red and white colours. Biarritz won a number of major honors, including the French championship on five occasions.
Frédéric Michalak is a former French rugby union footballer. His early career was spent playing for his hometown team, Toulouse, in the Top 14 and in the Heineken Cup. He moved to South Africa to play for the Sharks in the Super 14 after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but after just one year with the Sharks he moved back to Toulouse. He has also played over 70 tests for France to date, and is the country's leading Test point scorer, achieving that milestone in 2015. Michalak originally played scrum-half but has played mainly at fly-half. He has appeared in advertisements for companies such as Nike and Levi's.
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Clément Poitrenaud 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 Sharks in Super Rugby, having represented Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition between 2000 and 2016, and France between 2001 and 2012, including at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. He has since transitioned into a role of partner, father and coach.
Jérôme Thion is a French former professional rugby union footballer who played as a lock. He played for the France national team from 2003 to 2011, representing them at the 2003 and 2007 Rugby World Cups, as well as captaining them in three tests in late 2005. He was also a part of the side that won back-to-back Six Nations Championship titles in 2006 and 2007.
Sylvain Marconnet is a French rugby union footballer who played for Biarritz Olympique having signed from Stade Français in the Top 14 club competition in France. His usual position is prop. Marconnet has played for France, including representing them at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Rémy Martin is a French rugby union footballer. He has also played for France. His usual position is at flanker.
Isireli Bobo, is a Fijian rugby union footballer.
The French national rugby union team first competed at the 1900 Summer Olympics.
Dean Richards is a rugby union coach and former player for Leicester Tigers, England and British & Irish Lions. He was most recently the Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons, a position he held for ten years between 2012 and 2022.
The 2006 Heineken Cup Final was a rugby union match played at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, on 20 May 2006, to determine the winners of the 2005–06 Heineken Cup, European rugby's premier club competition. The match was contested by Irish province Munster and French side Biarritz. It was the 11th Heineken Cup final overall and the third final appearance for Munster, while Biarritz were competing in their first final. It was the second time the Millennium Stadium had hosted the Heineken Cup final, the other being in 2002, and the fourth to take place in Cardiff, including finals played at the old Cardiff Arms Park.
The 2010 Heineken Cup Final was the final match of the 2009–10 Heineken Cup, the 15th season of Europe's top club rugby union competition. The match was played on 22 May 2010 at Stade de France, Saint-Denis north of Paris. It was contested by Biarritz and Toulouse, both from France. Toulouse won the final by 21–19, and for a record fourth time in fifteen seasons of the competition.
Vernon Anthony Cotter is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who was most recently the head coach of the Fiji national team. He was part of the coaching staff for the successful Crusaders side between 2005 and 2006, before coaching in France with Clermont Auvergne between 2006 and 2014. He coached the Scotland national team from 2014, including at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, and left his role in May 2017 as his contract was not extended by the Scottish Rugby Union. In January 2020 Cotter was appointed coach of Fiji, but resigned in January 2023.
Teddy Thomas is a French international rugby union player who plays on the wing for La Rochelle in the Top 14.
The history of the Wales national rugby union team from 2005 to present covers a period where the side won four Grand Slams in the Six Nations Championship, as well as another Championship victory. The Grand Slams, in all the tournament matches, were achieved in 2005, 2008, 2012 and 2019. Their other Six Nations Championship, in 2013, was won without achieving a Grand Slam. The country has not enjoyed as much success against the major southern hemisphere opposition of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand have not been defeated by Wales since 1953, and South Africa have only been defeated five times since 2005: a 12–6 victory in 2014, a 27–13 victory in 2016, a 24–22 victory in 2017, a 24–22 victory in Washington DC in 2018 followed by a 20–11 win in Cardiff in 2018. Wales defeated Australia in November 2005, and also in November 2008. Following this, Wales suffered a thirteen-match losing streak to the Wallabies. This ended in 2018, when Wales defeated Australia 9–6.