The Barbarian Rugby Club, more commonly known as the French Barbarians, is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team formed in 1979 and based in France. It was founded as an amateur invitational team modeled on the

Barbarian F.C. The Barbarian Football Club, known as the Barbarians, is a Great Britain, British-based invitational rugby union club. The Barbarians play in black and white hoops, though players wear socks from their own club strip. Membership is by invitatio ...

From the start of the 2017–18 season, the French Barbarians became the official second national team of the

French Rugby Federation The French Rugby Federation (, ; FFR) is the governing body for rugby union in France. It is responsible for the French national team and the Ligue nationale de rugby that administers the country's professional leagues. History Before the FFR ...

, which had previously designated either the France U20 side or France A as that team. This decision was reversed in 2019, to allow for the creation of a new second national team as a development side (above the Under 20s team but below the first men's team). The French Barbarians play in sky, navy and royal blue hooped jerseys. As with the original Barbarians, players retain the socks from their "home" club strip.

History

Jean-Claude Skrela founded the club after he had played for, and adored, the original

Barbarians A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

in the later days of his career. Through the amateur era, all players chosen for the side were either French or played for French clubs. One of the most recent matches was against the Argentina national team (Los Pumas) in early 2007, as part of their preparation for the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup () was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition organised by the International Rugby Board. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by F ...

. For the game, held in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; also spelled ; ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spain. It is a luxu ...

, the coaches were Jacques Delmas (Biarritz), Patrice Lagisquet (Biarritz) and were captained by Thomas Lièvremont. While in 2008 they beat

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in Victoria. They played with Argentina at

José Amalfitani Stadium The José Amalfitani Stadium (also known as El Fortín de Liniers or Estadio Vélez Sarsfield) is a association football, football stadium located in the Liniers neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, near Liniers railway station. The venue is t ...

in Buenos Aires on 20 June 2009 as part of the mid-year test series, and lost 32–18. In 2016 the French Barbarians beat Australia XV by 19–11 in their first match against an Australian side for over twenty years. And in late 2017 they beat the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is ...

19–15, which was the first time playing that side.

Matches against international sides

Overall

Current squad

French Barbarians squad to face the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on 1 July 2022. Coaches:

Christian Labit Christian Labit (born 11 February 1971) is a French rugby player. He played for both RC Narbonne and Stade Toulousain and then moved to English club Northampton Saints. He was a member of France's 2003 Rugby World Cup squad. Whilst at Toulouse h ...

and Kevin Gourdon Note: Bold denotes players that have represented the French Barbarians in previous matches. ''Italics'' represents uncapped players.

Former players

* Malik Hamadache *

Miguel Avramovic Miguel Avramovic (born 18 July 1981 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine rugby union footballer currently playing for SU Agen, Agen in the Top 14. He has also played for Worcester Warriors in the English Premiership (rugby union), Premiership. He u ...

* Lucas Borges * Mauricio Reggiardo * Alberto Vernet Basualdo *

David Campese David Ian Campese, AM (; born 21 October 1962), also known as Campo, is a former Australian rugby union player (1982–1996), who was capped by the Wallabies 101 times, and played 85 Tests at wing and 16 at fullback. He retired in 1996 and ...

John Eales John Anthony Eales (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups. Early life E ...

Nick Farr-Jones Nicholas Campbell Farr-Jones AM (born 18 April 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player, who played as a scrum-half. He debuted for the Australia national team during the 1984 tour of Britain and Ireland. Farr-Jones was named "Player ...

* James O'Connor * George Smith * Robins Tchale-Watchou * Mike James *

Silvère Tian Silvère Tian (born July 19, 1980) is an Ivory Coast, Ivorian rugby union Fullback (rugby union), fullback. Career Born in Abidjan, Tian started playing rugby at age 6 in the city. He took part in the 1998 Under-21 World Championships that were ...

* Richard Pool-Jones * Peter Winterbottom * Rupeni Caucaunibuca * Waisale Serevi * Marika Vunibaka * Louis Armary * David Aucagne * Teddy Baubigny * Alexi Balès * Pierre-Louis Barassi * Abdelatif Benazzi * Philippe Benetton * Pierre Berbizier * Philippe Bernat-Salles * Serge Betsen * Serge Blanco * Éric Bonneval * Olivier Brouzet * Nicolas Brusque * Laurent Cabannes * Jean-Marie Cadieu * Didier Camberabero * Louis Carbonel * Alain Carminati *

Thomas Castaignède Thomas Castaignède (born 21 January 1975) is a rugby union footballer from Mont-de-Marsan. Born in Mont-de-Marsan, Aquitaine, Castaignède played as a junior and senior for Stade Montois in various positions, initially as fly-half or centre, ...

* Richard Castel * Marc Cécillon * Denis Charvet * Gérard Cholley * Vincent Clerc * Didier Codorniou * Franck Comba * Jean Condom * Jean-Jacques Crenca * Dylan Cretin * Marc Dal Maso *

Marc de Rougemont Marc de Rougemont (born 24 May 1972, Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône) is a French rugby union footballer. He plays as a hooker. His nickname is "Le Rouge" (The Red). De Rougemont first played at RC Toulon, from 1991/92 to 1997/98. He won the title of ...

* Christophe Deylaud * Philippe Dintrans * Christophe Dominici * Yves Donguy * Pierre Dospital * Michel Droitecourt * Daniel Dubroca *

Jean-Baptiste Élissalde Jean-Baptiste Élissalde (born 23 November 1977) is a former French Rugby Union, French rugby union player, playing either as a Scrum-half (rugby union), scrum-half or as a Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half, and most recently defense coach for Mo ...

* Jean-Pierre Élissalde * Dominique Erbani * Jérôme Fillol * Jacques Fouroux * Fabien Galthié * Xavier Garbajosa * Jean-Pierre Garuet-Lempirou * Stéphane Glas * Arthur Gomes * Jean-Michel Gonzalez * Antoine Guillamon * Francis Haget * Dominique Harize * Cédric Heymans * Aubin Hueber * Jean-François Imbernon * Jean-Luc Joinel * Jordan Joseph * Jean-Baptiste Lafond * Patrice Lagisquet * Guy Laporte * Christophe Laussucq * Jean-Patrick Lescarboura * Marc Lièvremont * Thomas Lièvremont * Sylvain Marconnet *

Jimmy Marlu Jimmy Marlu (born 25 May 1977) is a retired French rugby union player. His usual positions was Fullback (rugby union), Fullback but he also played Wing (rugby union), Wing. He played for ASM Clermont Auvergne, AS Montferrand where he won the E ...

* Tony Marsh *

Rémy Martin Rémy Martin () is a French firm that primarily produces and sells cognac. Founded in 1724 and based in the Communes of France, commune of Cognac, France, Cognac, it is among the oldest cognac producers still in existence. and one of the "big f ...

* Olivier Merle * Franck Mesnel * Frédéric Michalak * Vincent Moscato * Émile Ntamack * Romain Ntamack * Pascal Ondarts * Alain Paco * Michel Palmié *

Boris Palu Boris Palu (born 4 February 1996) is a French people, French professional rugby union player. He currently plays at Lock (rugby union), lock for Racing 92 in the Top 14. Personal life Palu was born in France to a French father and Cameroonian m ...

* Robert Paparemborde * Laurent Pardo * Adrien Pélissié * Fabien Pelous * Jean-Baptiste Poux *

Thibaut Privat Thibaut Privat (born 4 February 1979) is a former France, French international rugby union player. He played as a Lock (rugby union), Lock for AS Béziers Hérault, AS Béziers, ASM Clermont Auvergne, Montferrand and Montpellier Hérault RC, Mo ...

* Pierre Rabadan *

Swan Rebbadj Swan Rebbadj (born 15 January 1995) is a French rugby union player, his regular playing position is Flanker and as Lock (rugby union), Lock for RC Toulonnais, Toulon in the Top 14. Career Rebbadj started playing at RC Toulonnais, RC Toulon in ...

* Arthur Retière * Jean-Pierre Rives * Laurent Rodriguez * Jean-Pierre Romeu * Aurélien Rougerie * Olivier Roumat * Philippe Saint-André * Jean-Luc Sadourny *

Philippe Sella Philippe Sella (born 14 February 1962, in Tonneins) is a French former rugby union player. He started as a rugby league junior in his home town before switching to rugby union. As a former French rugby union player, he held the record for most i ...

* David Skrela * Jean-Claude Skrela * Cédric Soulette * Jérôme Thion * Jean-François Tordo * Diego Domínguez * Hugo MacNeill * Fergus Slattery * Ian Jones *

Josh Kronfeld Joshua Adrian Kronfeld (born 20 June 1971) is a TV presenter and a former rugby union footballer who represented All Blacks, New Zealand at international level and Otago Rugby Football Union, Otago, Otago Highlanders, the Highlanders and Leicest ...

* Simon Mannix * Chris Masoe * David Smith *

Grzegorz Kacała Grzegorz Kacała is a Polish former professional rugby union and rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, and has coached rugby union in the 2000s and 2010s. He was born on 15 March 1966. In rugby union, his position was in the back row, ...

Naas Botha Hendrik Egnatius 'Naas' Botha (born 27 February 1958) is a South African former rugby union player who played as a Fly-half for Northern Transvaal, Rugby Rovigo and South Africa (the Springboks). He was voted SA Rugby Player of the Year in ...

* Brett Gosper * Andre Joubert * Filipo Toala

Honours

Melrose Sevens Melrose Sevens is an annual rugby sevens event held by Melrose Rugby Club, at The Greenyards in Melrose, Scotland. It is the oldest rugby sevens competition in the world, dating back to 1883 when the tournament was suggested by former Melros ...

** Champions (1): 1983

Footnotes

References

External links

Official Website
{{Rugby union in France Barbarian F.C. International rugby union teams

Rugby clubs established in 1979 1979 establishments in France