Tony Marsh (born 12 August 1972 in
Rotorua
Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...
) is a
New Zealand-born former
rugby union player who has represented
France playing at
centre.
At the beginning of the 1990s, he played club rugby in
Manurewa and
Ardmore before playing
National Provincial Championship rugby with
Counties.
Marsh joined the
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
Super rugby
Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...
team in 1996, winning the Super 12 in 97, before switching to the
Crusaders with whom he won the title in 1998. He is one of the only players who won back-to-back Super Rugby titles with different teams.
Later that year he left
New Zealand for
France and signed for
Top 12 club
Montferrand, now known as Clermont, with whom he reached the final of the league on three occasions, in 1999, 2001 and 2007, won the
European Challenge Cup
The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...
twice in 1999 and in 2007, as well as the now-defunct French national cup in 2001.
After three years in France he became eligible to play for ''
les Bleus'' and
Bernard Laporte named him in the French squad in 2001. He went on to win 21 French
caps between 2001 and 2004, scoring 7 tries and helping France win the
Grand Slam in 2002.
Early in 2003 he was diagnosed with
testicular cancer but overcame the disease after grueling months of
chemotherapy sessions and rejoined the French team, reaching the semi-final stage of 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 ...
.
Marsh played his last game for France in 2004 and his last game for Clermont came in the 2007 French Championship match against Stade Francais, Clermont lost the game narrowly, but they did end the season as European Challenge Cup winners.
External links
ERC Stats* http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/my_club/saracens/6641665.stm
Tony Marsh - Health & Wellness Ambassador of Confitex
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Tony
1972 births
French rugby union players
Living people
Rugby union centres
New Zealand rugby union players
ASM Clermont Auvergne players
France international rugby union players
Crusaders (rugby union) players
Blues (Super Rugby) players
Counties Manukau rugby union players
Rugby union players from Rotorua
2003 Rugby World Cup players