French Barbarians

French Barbarians
(French: **Barbarians français**)
Nickname(s)	Les Baa-Baas
Founded	1979
Coach(es)	Denis Charvet
	Team kit
	Team kit
First match
	French Barbarians 26 – 22 Scotland ; (2 May 1980)
Largest win
	French Barbarians 45 – 4 Japan ; (27 October 1985)
Largest defeat
	XV du Président 83 – 12 French Barbarians; (20 September 2003)

Last updated July 08, 2025

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.

From the start of the 2017–18 season, the French Barbarians became the official second national team of the French Rugby Federation,^[1] which had previously designated either the France U20 side or France A as that team.^[2]^[3] This decision was reversed in 2019, to allow for the creation of a new second national team as a development side (above the Under 20s team but below the first men's team). ^[4]

The French Barbarians play in sky, navy and royal blue hooped jerseys. As with the original Barbarians, players retain the socks from their "home" club strip.

History

Jean-Claude Skrela founded the club after he had played for, and adored, the original Barbarians in the later days of his career. Through the amateur era, all players chosen for the side were either French or played for French clubs.

One of the most recent matches was against the Argentina national team (Los Pumas) in early 2007, as part of their preparation for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. For the game, held in Biarritz, the coaches were Jacques Delmas (Biarritz), Patrice Lagisquet (Biarritz) and were captained by Thomas Lièvremont. While in 2008 they beat Canada in Victoria. They played with Argentina at José Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires on 20 June 2009 as part of the mid-year test series, and lost 32–18.

In 2016 the French Barbarians beat Australia XV by 19–11 in their first match against an Australian side for over twenty years. And in late 2017 they beat the Māori All Blacks 19–15, which was the first time playing that side.

Matches against international sides

Date	Venue	Opposing Teams	For	Against	Result
1 May 1980	Stade Armandie, Agen	Scotland	26	22	Won
7 November 1981	Stade Jean Dauger, Bayonne	New Zealand	18	28	Lost
11 November 1982	Stade Maurice Boyau, Dax	Argentina	8	22	Lost
23 November 1983	Stade Mayol, Toulon	Australia	21	23	Lost
22 October 1985	Stade Jean-Martinaud, Cognac	Japan	45	4	Won
10 May 1986	Stade Armandie, Agen	Scotland	32	19	Won
11 November 1986	Stade Marcel-Deflandre, La Rochelle	New Zealand	12	26	Lost
22 May 1988	Stade Marcel-Deflandre, La Rochelle	Ireland	41	26	Won
22 October 1989	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux	Fiji	16	32	Lost
27 October 1990	Stade Armandie, Agen	New Zealand	13	23	Lost
31 October 1992	Stadium Lille Métropole, Villeneuve-d'Ascq	South Africa	25	20	Won
11 November 1993	Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand	Australia	26	43	Lost
1 November 1995	Stade Mayol, Toulon	New Zealand	19	34	Lost
23 November 1996	Stade Amédée-Domenech, Brive	South Africa	30	22	Won
11 November 1997	Parc des Sports Aguiléra, Biarritz	South Africa	40	22	Won
11 November 1998	Stade Pierre Rajon, Bourgoin-Jallieu	Argentina	38	30	Won
27 May 2000	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	33	40	Lost
7 November 2000	Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens	New Zealand	23	21	Won
18 November 2001	Stade Mayol, Toulon	Fiji	15	17	Lost
20 September 2003	Parc des Sports et de l'Amitié, Narbonne	XV du Président ^{[n 1]}^[5]	12	83	Lost
3 March 2007	Parc des Sports Aguiléra, Biarritz	Argentina	14	28	Lost
28 June 2008	Esquimalt's Bullen Park, Victoria	Canada	17	7	Won
20 June 2009	José Amalfitani Stadium, Buenos Aires	Argentina	18	32	Lost
26 November 2010	Stade des Alpes, Grenoble	Tonga	27	28	Lost
4 June 2011	Independiente Stadium, Avellaneda	Argentina	19	23	Lost
11 June 2011	Estadio Centenario, Resistencia	Argentina	21	18	Won
20 June 2012	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo	Japan	40	21	Won
24 June 2012	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo	Japan	51	18	Won
25 November 2012	Stade Océane, Le Havre	Japan	64	41	Won
16 November 2013	Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont-Ferrand	Samoa	20	19	Won
14 November 2014	Stade Mayol, Toulon	Namibia	35	14	Won
20 June 2015	Old Resian Club, Rosario	Argentina	28	22	Won
26 June 2015	La Plata Rugby Club, La Plata	Argentina	9	21	Lost
24 November 2016	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux	Wallaby XV	19	11	Won
10 November 2017	Stade Chaban-Delmas, Bordeaux	Māori All Blacks	19	15	Won
31 May 2018	Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi	Georgia	15	16	Lost
10 November 2018	Stade Chaban Delmas, Bordeaux	Tonga	38	49	Lost
13 November 2021	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	Tonga	42	17	Won
1 July 2022	Aveva Stadium, Houston	United States	21	26	Lost

Overall

Against	Played	Won	Lost	Win %
Argentina	8	3	5	37.5%
Australia	2	0	2	0%
Australia XV	1	1	0	100%
Canada	1	1	0	100%
Fiji	2	0	2	0%
XV du Président	1	0	1	0%
Georgia	1	0	1	0%
Ireland	1	1	0	100%
Japan	4	4	0	100%
Namibia	1	1	0	100%
New Zealand	5	1	4	20%
Māori All Blacks	1	1	0	100%
Samoa	1	1	0	100%
Scotland	2	2	0	100%
South Africa	3	3	0	100%
Tonga	3	1	2	33%
United States	1	0	1	0%
Wales	1	0	1	0%
Total	38	20	18	52.63%

Current squad

French Barbarians squad to face the United States on 1 July 2022.

Coaches: Christian Labit and Kevin Gourdon

Note: Bold denotes players that have represented the French Barbarians in previous matches. Italics represents uncapped players.Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules.

Player	Position	Date of birth (age)	Club/province	Union
Clément Maynadier	Hooker	(1988-10-11) 11 October 1988 (age 36)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
Adrien Pélissié	Hooker	(1990-08-07) 7 August 1990 (age 34)	Clermont Auvergne	France
Nicolas Corato	Prop	(1997-10-07) 7 October 1997 (age 27)	Pau	France
Arthur Joly	Prop	(1988-02-20) 20 February 1988 (age 37)	Perpignan	France
Jefferson Poirot	Prop	(1992-01-11) 11 January 1992 (age 33)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
Sébastien Taofifénua	Prop	(1992-03-21) 21 March 1992 (age 33)	Lyon	France
Alexandre Roumat	Lock	(1997-06-27) 27 June 1997 (age 28)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
Romain Sazy	Lock	(1986-10-14) 14 October 1986 (age 38)	La Rochelle	France
Esteban Abadie	Back row	(1997-12-01) 1 December 1997 (age 27)	Brive	France
Anthime Hemery	Back row	(2001-01-09) 9 January 2001 (age 24)	Racing 92	France
Louis Picamoles	Back row	(1985-02-05) 5 February 1985 (age 40)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
William Wavrin	Back row	(1991-01-06) 6 January 1991 (age 34)	Stade Montois	France
Thomas Berjon	Scrum-half	(1998-04-12) 12 April 1998 (age 27)	La Rochelle	France
Samuel Marques	Scrum-half	(1988-12-08) 8 December 1988 (age 36)	Carcassonne	Portugal
Louis Foursans	Fly-half	(2002-01-29) 29 January 2002 (age 23)	Montpellier	France
François Trinh-Duc	Fly-half	(1986-11-11) 11 November 1986 (age 38)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
Raphaël Lagarde	Fly-half	(1988-10-30) 30 October 1988 (age 36)	Agen	France
Pierre Aguillon	Centre	(1987-03-27) 27 March 1987 (age 38)	Castres	France
Jean-Baptiste Dubié	Centre	(1989-07-16) 16 July 1989 (age 35)	Bordeaux Bègles	France
Adrien Lapègue	Wing	(1998-10-21) 21 October 1998 (age 26)	Stade Français	France
Mathieu Acebes	Fullback	(1987-08-01) 1 August 1987 (age 37)	Perpignan	France
Nans Ducuing	Fullback	(1991-11-06) 6 November 1991 (age 33)	Bordeaux Bègles	France

Former players

Honours

Melrose Sevens
- Champions (1): 1983

Footnotes

↑ Containing mostly the same players as France's 2003 World Cup squad—except for those who played on the Baa-Baas such as Yannick Bru or Sébastien Chabal—this designation exists to circumvent World Rugby regulations and the Board's authority on allowing matches with international squads to be organized.

References

↑ "Les Barbarians Français deviennent une équipe nationale" (in French). Fédération Française de Rugby. 23 October 2017. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
↑ "Next Senior National Representative Team June 2003–2017" (PDF). World Rugby. 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
↑ "Next Senior National Representative Team June 2003–2012" (PDF). World Rugby. 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
↑ "Barbarians Français : Une équipe d'exception". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). 4 June 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
↑ Bertrand Bourgeault (20 September 2003). "Un match pour quoi faire ?" (in French). Le Parisien.

External links

Official Website

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[5] Containing mostly the same players as France's 2003 World Cup squad—except for those who played on the Baa-Baas such as Yannick Bru or Sébastien Chabal—this designation exists to circumvent World Rugby regulations and the Board's authority on allowing matches with international squads to be organized.

[ffr-oct-2017-1] "Les Barbarians Français deviennent une équipe nationale" (in French). Fédération Française de Rugby. 23 October 2017. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.

[wr-2nd-teams-2013-2017-2] "Next Senior National Representative Team June 2003–2017" (PDF). World Rugby. 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

[wr-2nd-teams-2003-2012-3] "Next Senior National Representative Team June 2003–2012" (PDF). World Rugby. 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

[4] "Barbarians Français : Une équipe d'exception". Fédération Française de Rugby (in French). 4 June 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

[6] Bertrand Bourgeault (20 September 2003). "Un match pour quoi faire ?" (in French). Le Parisien.

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