Thomas Bosc (born 5 August 1983) is a French former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who played for the

Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons (French: ''Dragons Catalans'', Catalan: ''Dracs Catalans'') are a professional rugby league club from Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. The team competes in the Super League and are the only team from outs ...

in the Super League. Having spent his entire professional career with the Dragons, he is the club's all-time leading points scorer and is considered one of the finest French players to have played for the club.

Background

Bosc was born in Perpignan,

Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Roussillon (; oc, Lengadòc-Rosselhon ; ca, Llenguadoc-Rosselló) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania. It comprised five departments, and b ...

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 ...

. His father is Jean-Marie Bosc, who is a former rugby league international for France, who played the 1975 Rugby League World Championship.

Playing career

After coming through the ranks at

Elite One Championship Elite 1 is the top level rugby league competition in France, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions wor ...

side Union Treiziste Catalane (the precursor to Catalans Dragons), Bosc was part of the Dragons' inaugural Super League squad and made his Super League debut against Castleford Tigers on February 26, 2006, in what was only the club's third Super League match. He spent most of 2006 as a fringe player, occasionally called upon to play at full-back. In 2007, with the arrival of Clint Greenshields, he was switched to the wing and enjoyed a successful campaign, albeit one curtailed by injury. With the retirement of

Stacey Jones Stacey William Jones (born 7 May 1976) is a New Zealand former professional rugby league footballer, who has been named amongst the greatest New Zealand has ever produced. He played as a , but he has also briefly played at during his disting ...

in 2008, Bosc was handed the opportunity to fill his considerable gap in the halves. He was a revelation in the role and went on to become a key player for the team, taking over the playmaking and goal-kicking responsibilities and setting a number of points-scoring records including becoming the first player to reach 1,000 points for the club. He was named in the France training squad and ultimately to the final France squad for the

2008 Rugby League World Cup The 2008 Rugby League World Cup was the thirteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup since its inauguration in 1954, and the first since the 2000 tournament. The tournament was held in Australia from 26 October, culminating in the final ...

. Bosc continued to represent France in the

2009 Four Nations The 2009 Rugby League Four Nations tournament (officially known as the Gillette Four Nations due to sponsorship) was the first Rugby League Four Nations since its expansion from the Tri-Nations tournament. Played in England and France over three ...

and the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World ...

. In September 2017, Bosc announced he would be retiring at the end of the season.

References

External links

Super League profileFrance profileSL profile
1983 births French rugby league players Catalans Dragons players French people of Catalan descent France national rugby league team players Rugby league five-eighths Living people Sportspeople from Perpignan {{France-rugbyleague-bio-stub