Jean Prat (1 August 1923 – 25 February 2005) was a 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 ...

footballer. He played as a flanker. He was awarded the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

in 1959. He is considered one of the best French rugby players of all time and was inducted into both the

International Rugby Hall of Fame The International Rugby Hall of Fame (IRHOF) was a hall of fame for rugby union. It was created in 1997 in New Zealand and is run as a charitable trust with an address at Chiswick in London. Most of the trustees are also inductees. IRHOF acc ...

and

IRB Hall of Fame The World Rugby Hall of Fame (formerly the IRB Hall of Fame) recognises special achievement and contribution to the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby Hall of Fame covers players, coaches, administrators, match officials, institutions and other ...

, in 2001 and 2011 respectively. His younger brother.

Maurice Prat Maurice may refer to: People *Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr *Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor * Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and L ...

, also appeared for France, with the pair appearing together at international level on a number of occasions.

Career

Prat was born in

Lourdes Lourdes (, also , ; oc, Lorda ) is a market town situated in the Pyrenees. It is part of the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region in southwestern France. Prior to the mid-19th century, the town was best known for the Châ ...

Midi-Pyrénées Midi-Pyrénées (; oc, Miègjorn-Pirenèus or ; es, Mediodía-Pirineos) is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Occitania. It was the largest region of Metropolitan France by a ...

. He played all his club career for FC Lourdes, from 1944–45 to 1958–59. He won 6 titles of the French Championship, in 1947–48, 1951–52, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1956–57 and 1957–58, two titles of the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

, in 1950 and 1951, and three titles of the

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 ...

, in 1953, 1954 and 1956. He had 51 caps for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, from 1945 to 1955, scoring 9 tries, 27 conversions, 15 penalties and 6 drop goals, 144 points on aggregate. He won his first cap for France in a 21–9 win over the British Army at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin and Stade Roland Garros. The stadium, with a seating capacity of 47 ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, on 1 January 1945. Prat kicked two conversions that helped France to win the game. Prat then played for France in matches against a British Empire XV, a non-capped Wales XV and a 'Kiwis' team. Prat then played in the

1947 Five Nations Championship The 1947 Five Nations Championship was the eighteenth 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 fifty-third series of the n ...

. After playing in the first match of the subsequent Five Nations, he played in a Test against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, which France won by 13–6. Prat then played in the rest of the

Five 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 ...

. Following the 1949 Five Nations Prat played in two Tests against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. Prat played in the 1950, 1951 and 1952 Five Nations, and then played in a match against a touring

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabokoboko), is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

team, which South Africa won 25–3. He ran on for his first match as captain of France in the opening match of the 1954 Five Nations against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. One of his most famous moments came in 1954 when Prat scored a barn-storming try against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

, which saw France win the match 3–0. He continued to captain France to their first ever Five Nations victory, sharing the championship with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He won the 1952 Rugby Union European Cup and the 1954 Rugby Union European Cup, the second time as the captain of the French side. His final season of Test rugby was in 1955. He played his final Five Nations match against Wales during the Five Nations at Stade Colombes in Paris. Having previously defeated England, Ireland and Scotland in the tournament, a win over the Welsh would have seen France capture their first Grand Slam and outright championship. He played his last match in the 24–0 win against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, at 10 April 1955, in a tour. His leadership and skills laid the foundations for France to emerge fully on the international stage.Jean Prat International Statistics
/ref> He was the first head coach of

, from 1963 to 1968. He won the

1967 Five Nations Championship The 1967 Five Nations Championship was the thirty-eighth series of the rugby union Five Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the seventy-third series of the northern hemisphere r ...

. Prat died at

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turba'' ...

in 2005.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prat, Jean 1923 births 2005 deaths People from Lourdes FC Lourdes players French rugby union players Rugby union flankers World Rugby Hall of Fame inductees France international rugby union players France national rugby union team coaches Sportspeople from Hautes-Pyrénées Recipients of the Legion of Honour