Alain Penaud (born 19 July 1969) is a French former

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who held the position of fly-half. He was known for his vision of the game, his audacity and his ball carrying and played mainly for

Brive Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 75 ...

, where he scored 449 points within 334 games all in all and won the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in 1997. Penaud is widely acknowledged as one of the best Brive players of all time. He later won

French Rugby Union Championship The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

(named at that time ''Élite 1'') with

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in 2001. He was selected 32 times for the French national team and won the

1997 Five Nations Championship The 1997 Five Nations Championship was the sixty-eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the hundred-and-third series ...

clinching a Grand Slam. His international career was restricted due to his strong personality and the tactical choices of many coaches. He has indeed never been selected for a World Cup, even though his career has covered five tournaments. His son is French rugby union international Damian Penaud.

Biography

Alain Penaud was born on 19 July 1969 in

Juillac, Corrèze Juillac (; oc, Julhac) is a commune in the Corrèze department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southern France. From 1790 to 2015, the municipality was the capital of the canton of Juillac. Geography Location In the western part of the Department of C ...

. He started rugby for his hometown club US Juillac-Objat, near

Brive-la-Gaillarde Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of oc, Briva la Galharda) is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 7 ...

, at the age of 13 and then moved to

three years later. He began to be a regular starter for Brive first-team in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Alongside Sébastien Carrat,

Christophe Lamaison Christophe "Titou" Lamaison (born 8 April 1971) is a former French rugby union footballer who represented France at international level, and Brive, Agen and Aviron Bayonnais at professional club level. He won 37 caps, and at the time of his retire ...

, David Venditti and Sebastien Viars, he formed a formidable back line. He reached the

1995–96 French Rugby Union Championship The 1995–96 French Rugby Union Championship was played by 20 teams in the first division ("A1") In the "A1" group were abstent historical clubs like Béziers, Biarritz, Tarbes, and FC Lourdes. The teams were divided in two pool of 10, and t ...

(named at that time ''Groupe A'') final but lost against

, and is remembered for captaining the team in winning the

in 1997 against

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

and featured in the final the following year against

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. His first start for France came against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1992. Penaud has been in and out of the side for France, though still appeared in the 1997 Grand Slam win, including a last-minute victory against England at

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. After a defeat in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in the summer of 1997, he left the national team, missing the 1999 World Cup. He moved to

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century Germany in the Middle Ages, German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings, to refer ...

for the 1998–99

Allied Dunbar Premiership Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

season to replace

Michael Lynagh Michael Patrick Thomas Lynagh, AM (born 25 October 1963) is an Australian former rugby union player who played mainly as a fly-half. Lynagh represented Australia from 1984 to 1995, playing at both inside centre and fly half. Lynagh was capped ...

, and scored a try on his debut against Northampton Saints. He scored 66 points within 24 games for Sarries. Despite a three-year contract, he spent only one season across the channel (finishing 3rd in the league), preferring, for family reasons to return to France at Toulouse, where he won 2000–01 Élite 1. Producing two excellent seasons, Penaud was recalled to the France squad for the

2000 Six Nations The 2000 Six Nations Championship was the first series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship, following the addition of Italy to the Five Nations. It was the 106th season of the championship overall. The title was won by England. England won ...

. He then returned to Brive when the club was playing in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He helped them to promotion for the 2003–04 season. He left the club in 2005, after scoring 449 points within 334 games including 263 championship ones, and signed for

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

as player-coach. Despite his age, he surprised many by becoming one of the best players in the league. He then moved to

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () 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 ...

in 2005, lasting only one season. In 2006–07, he returned to honour his contract as player-coach with Lyon in Pro D2. His last dance was tumultuous, as he received a suspension for 30 days for insulting a referee during a match against

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

. Penaud retired at the end of the season, after a 20-year elite career.

Personal life

He is the father of another French international, Damian Penaud. He currently works as CCO of Andros.

Honours

Brive

: 1996–97 *

runner-up: 1997–98 * Groupe A runner-up: 1995–96 *

Challenge Yves du Manoir The Challenge Yves du Manoir was a rugby union club competition that was played in France between 1931 and 2003 under different names. It is named after former player Yves du Manoir. History The Challenge Yves du Manoir was officially created on S ...

: 1996

Toulouse

Élite 1 Élite 1 (since 2018, and previously Top 8 from 2015 to 2018) is the top national league for women's rugby union clubs in France. It was founded from the 1971–1972 season under the aegis of the French Women's Rugby Association before being taken ...

: 2000–01

France

* Five Nations Championship:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

( Grand Slam) * Five Nations Championship/

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

runner-up:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Statistics

Club statistics

International statistics

International tries

References

External links

EPCR

FFR

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penaud, Alain CA Brive players Saracens F.C. players Stade Toulousain players Lyon OU players Stade Français players French rugby union players Living people France international rugby union players 1969 births Sportspeople from Corrèze Rugby union fly-halves