Jonathan Wisniewski (born 16 July 1985) is a former French

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 it ...

player who played as a

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– ...

. He is of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

descent and is a grandnephew of Maryan Wisniewski.

Club career

Wisniewski started playing rugby at a youth level for

Gaillac Gaillac (; ) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants. Its inhabitants are called Gaillacois. Geography Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Montauban. It has ...

. In 2000, he left for

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lan ...

, but only stayed for one year, joining the

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 Pa ...

youth academy in 2001 at age 16. He stayed there for four years, even making one appearance for the senior team during the 2004–05 season. He signed his first professional contract for Aix-en-Provence, who were relegated from

Pro D2 Rugby Pro D2, also known as Pro D2 is the second tier of rugby union club competition division in France. It is operated by Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) which also runs the division directly above, the first division Top 14. Rugby Pro D2 was in ...

Fédérale 1 Le championnat de France de première division fédérale, a.k.a. Fédérale 1, is a French rugby union club competition, the fifth highest level of amateur rugby. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Française de Rugby since 2 ...

at the end of the season, forcing Wisniewski to leave. He signed for Castres, but the arrival of New-Zealander Cameron McIntyre moved him to third-choice fly-half, and he was asked to leave during the winter break by his president. Wisniewski joined

Colomiers Colomiers (; oc, Colomèrs; Languedocien dialect: ''Colomièrs'') is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in the Occitania region in Southwestern France. With a population of 39,968 as of 2019, it is the largest suburb of the city of Toul ...

in January, when the club was already doomed to relegation, but the six months spent there turned out to be a very positive personal experience for him, and his form caught the eye of ambitious Racing Métro manager

Pierre Berbizier Pierre Berbizier (born 17 June 1958) is a French former rugby union footballer and a current coach. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played 56 times for France. Biography Berbizier was born in Saint-Gaudens. He made his international deb ...

, who signed him the following summer. He overtook All-Black legend

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Philip Mehrtens (born 28 April 1973) is a New Zealand former rugby union player. He was regarded as a top first five-eighth, having played first for Canterbury in 1993, before being selected for the All Blacks (New Zealand's national te ...

as first-choice fly-half in his first season for the club, and has remained first choice since, despite the arrival of such big names as

François Steyn François Philippus Lodewyk Steyn (born 14 May 1987) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and Cheetahs (rugby union) in Pro 14. He usually plays at inside centre, fullback ...

and Juan Martín Hernández. He was an integral part of Racing's

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

Heineken Cup campaign, that ended in the group stage, behind

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...

and Clermont, but in front of Saracens.

International career

Wisniewski has been capped twice with the French under-21 national team (Italy in 2005 and Wales in 2006), and has also played with the France A team during the 2010 Churchill Cup. In 2009, he turned down

Nick Mallett Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett (born 30 October 1956) is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the ...

's offer to play for the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

. He was subsequently called up by

Marc Lièvremont Marc Lièvremont (born 28 October 1968) is a former rugby union footballer and was the head coach of the French national rugby union team. He played as a back-row forward for France, gaining 25 caps from 1995 to 1999, and was selected in France's ...

as a replacement for the injured

François Trinh-Duc François Trinh-Duc (; born 11 November 1986) is a French rugby union player for Union Bordeaux Bègles in France's top division of rugby union, the Top 14. Trinh-Duc's regular position is at fly-half or inside centre. Biography Trinh-Duc was b ...

for the French national team in the 2010 autumn internationals. He injured himself a few days later as well and was himself replaced by

David Skrela David Skrela (born 2 March 1979) is a former French rugby union footballer. He most notably played for Stade Français and Toulouse in the Top 14 as well as the French national side as a fly-half or centre. He was renowned for his tackles and his ...

. He did not feature in the 30-man squad announced by Lièvremont for the

2011 Six Nations Championship The 2011 Six Nations Championship, known as the 2011 RBS 6 Nations due to sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the Six Nations Championship, and the 117th edition of the international championship. The annual rugby unio ...

Honours

* Racing Métro 92 **

( 2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wisniewski, Jonathan 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Albi French rugby union players French people of Polish descent Rugby union fly-halves Castres Olympique players FC Grenoble players Racing 92 players RC Toulonnais players Stade Toulousain players