Date of birth | 31 October 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Thouars, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 108 kg (17 st 0 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Denis Avril (born 31 October 1972 in Thouars) is a French international professional rugby union player.
As a prop, Avril played for Biarritz Olympique with which he won three Top 14 titles. In 2008 he left Biarritz to play for Aviron Bayonnais. He earned his only cap with France on 2 July 2005 against Australia in Brisbane.
Biarritz is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border with Spain. It is a luxurious seaside tourist destination known for the Hôtel du Palais, its seafront casinos, and its surfing culture.
Stade Français Paris 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 clubs of the modern era. The original Stade Français was founded in 1883. In its current form, the club was founded in 1995 with the merger of the rugby sections of the Stade Français and Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux (CASG).
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.
Aviron Bayonnais, commonly called Bayonne, is a French rugby union club from Bayonne in Pyrénées-Atlantiques which competes in the Top 14, the top tier of the French league system. Founded in 1904, they play at the Parc des Sports, also known as Stade Jean-Dauger, in Bayonne. The club mascot is a pottok pony called pottoka. They have ties to the French Basque community.
Dimitri Yachvili Markarian is a French former rugby union footballer who played as a scrum-half for Biarritz and France. He played for France from 2002 to 2012, earning 61 caps and scoring 373 points. With them he played in the final of the 2011 World Cup losing to New Zealand and won two Grand Slams in 2004 and 2010. In club rugby, he won a European Cup in 2012 and played in two European Cup finals in 2006 and 2010 with Biarritz. With this club, he also won two French championship titles in 2005 and 2006. With his previous club, Gloucester, he was champion of England in 2002. After the end of his playing career, he became a rugby consultant, a career he began while still a player.
Eddie O'Sullivan is an Irish rugby union coach, player and a former Gaelic footballer. He is a former head coach of Buccaneers RFC the United States national rugby union team and of the Ireland national rugby union team. He was head coach of Biarritz Olympique, who play in the second tier of France, until October 2015.
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.
Mathieu Blin is a French rugby union footballer playing Paris club, Stade Français in the elite Top 14 competition. His usual position is at hooker.
David Auradou is a French former rugby union footballer. He last played for Paris club Stade Français, where he was the captain, in the Top 14. His usual position was at lock.
The Barbarian Rugby Club, more commonly known as the French Barbarians, is a rugby union team formed in 1979 and based in France. It was founded as an amateur invitational team modeled on the Barbarian F.C.
Benoît August is a French rugby union footballer, currently playing for Biarritz Olympique in the top division of French rugby, the Top 14. His usual position is at hooker. Prior to joining Biarritz he played for US Dax and Stade Français Paris. He was selected in the French national team's squad for the 2007 Six Nations, making his debut in the Test against Wales. That is still his only cap for his National Team.
The Air Transport Gendarmerie (GTA) is a branch of the French Gendarmerie. It is placed under the dual supervision of the Gendarmerie and the Directorate General for Civil Aviation of the Transportation Ministry, and has a strength of about 1,100, commanded by a senior officer or by a general officer.
The 2009–10 Heineken Cup was the 15th season of the Heineken Cup, the annual rugby union European club competition for clubs from the top six nations in European rugby. It started in October 2009 and ended on 22 May 2010 with the final at Stade de France in which Toulouse defeated Biarritz 21–19 to win the trophy for the fourth time.
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.
Martin Villeneuve is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and art director. He was nominated at the Canadian Screen Award in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay, for Mars et Avril, his feature film debut. He is also known for The 12 Tasks of Imelda, his second feature film released in 2022, in which he portrays his own grandmother, and for his animated series Red Ketchup which premiered in 2023. Villeneuve previously worked for Cirque du Soleil as an artistic director for commercials and films.
The 2011–12 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Home-and-away play began on August 26, 2011. Two new teams from the 2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Lyon and Bordeaux Bègles in place of the two relegated teams, La Rochelle and Bourgoin.
Marc Baget is a French professional rugby union player.
The Couzinet 33 Biarritz was a French long-range monoplane built by René Couzinet in the early 1930s.