Gérald Merceron (born 25 February 1973 in

Cognac Cognac ( , also , ) is a variety of brandy named after the commune of Cognac, France. It is produced in the surrounding wine-growing region in the departments of Charente and Charente-Maritime. Cognac production falls under French appella ...

) is a French former rugby union player He played at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

. Unusually he favoured a cone when kicking at goal; the only other player in the modern game to do the same is Chris Ellis. He played for

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like ...

, ASM Clermont Auvergne and

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...

, where he retired at the end of the 2007/08 season. He had 32 caps for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, from 1999 to 2003. He made his test debut on 3 June 1999 as a replacement against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, in a game won by 65-8, aged 26 years old. Merceron amassed an impressive 267 test points during his 32 appearances for the French side during 4 years, slotting 57 penalties, 36 conversions and 3 drop goals as well as scoring 3 tries. He was the highest scorer in the French Grand Slam of the 2002 Six Nations Championship with 80 points. His final appearance in a French jersey was in the third/fourth place play-off match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

during the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

, in a game lost by 40-13.Gérald Merceron International Statistics
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References

1973 births French rugby union players ASM Clermont Auvergne players RC Toulonnais players Living people Rugby union fly-halves France international rugby union players Stade Rochelais players People from Cognac, France Sportspeople from Charente {{france-rugbyunion-bio-stub