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

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the National Rugby League (France), France National Rugby League, also ...

Biography

Early life

Born on 23 November 1977 in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

, France, Élissalde is a third generation French international. His maternal grandfather Laurent Bidart and his father Jean-Pierre Élissalde both represented

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

at international level. Élissalde began playing rugby with

, where his father was a coach. He made his first appearance with the professional team in the 1997–8 season. Élissalde then gained caps with the France U21 team.

Toulouse

He played for

until 2002 when La Rochelle dropped from the top tier championship and decided to go to

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, where he initially had a hard time breaking into the senior squad, competing against the likes of Frédéric Michalak and

Yann Delaigue Yann Delaigue (born 5 April 1973) is a retired French international rugby union player. A highly talented player, nicknamed « Little Mozart », he played the first two matches of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. In 2001 he was part of the French Bar ...

. He then became the first choice scrum-half at Toulouse and was competing with

Biarritz Olympique Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque (; ), usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Iparralde, Basque city of Biarritz in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of Nouvelle-Aquitaine ...

Dimitri Yachvili Dimitri Yachvili Markarian (born 19 September 1980) is a French former rugby union footballer who played as a scrum-half for Biarritz and France. He played for France from 2002 to 2012, earning 61 caps and scoring 373 points. With them he playe ...

for the No. 9 shirt in the French national team. Élissalde was a member of the Toulouse teams that won the

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

in 2005 and 2010, and the

winning team of 2008. In the 2005 Heineken Cup Final he scored three penalties to help his side defeat Stade Français.

International career

He made his international debut against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the 2000 Six Nations as a replacement for fly-half

Gérald Merceron Gérald Merceron (born 25 February 1973) is a French former rugby union player He played at Fly-half (rugby union), fly-half. Unusually he favoured a cone when kicking at goal; the only other player in the modern game to do the same is Chris Elli ...

and went on to score his first international points later that year in a test against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

with a try eight minutes after coming in, again for Merceron. Dropping to the France A side thus making no subsequent full international appearance until the 2003 Six Nations, he was unable to force his way into the 2003 French World Cup squad. Élissalde bounced back from this disappointment with a strong showing in the 2004 Six Nations, making his first international start against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

at scrum-half (pairing with his club-mate Frédéric Michalak at fly-half) and scoring 36 points in his three starts, including a 24-point haul against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, to help France claim their second Grand Slam in three years. The 2006 Six Nations was also successful for both Élissalde and

with a Championship success and despite being unable to participate in the 2007 Six Nations due to injury, Élissalde was finally established ahead of

in the French squad. Élissalde went to the 2007 World Cup in good form, but was left on the bench for the opener against Argentina. Following a terrible display by his replacement Pierre Mignoni, he was restored as the French made it to the semi-finals. He scored a try and kicked 11 conversions for a tally of 27 points in an 87–10 thrashing against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. He kicked the winning conversion in the quarter-final against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, a game which France won 20–18. Élissalde was limited to three appearances in the Six Nations in 2008, including the championship deciding loss to Wales in Cardiff. He gained the last of his 35 caps in November 2008 in a Test against the Pacific Islanders where he had to leave the pitch on a stretcher after 18 minutes when Napolioni Nalaga's high tackle left him unconscious.

Barbarians

Élissalde was selected to play for the

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 ...

for their 2010 Summer tour alongside club-mates Cédric Heymans and Census Johnston. He played in non-cap tests against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

. Élissalde featured in both tests, scoring 6 points in a loss to England and 3 points in a victorious test against Ireland.

Retirement

After winning the Heineken Cup in 2010 with Toulouse, Jean-Baptiste Élissalde announced his retirement from playing rugby with France and his club. Élissalde took up a position with Toulouse as a backs coach, replacing Philippe Rougé-Thomas, working alongside head coach Guy Novès and forwards coach Yannick Bru, leading the club to its 18th domestic title in 2011. In 2010, he briefly came out of retirement to be selected in the French Barbarians squad playing

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

on 26 November, a match which was part of the French Barbarians' 30th anniversary celebrations. Élissalde started in the fly-half position and scored 3 points in what is considered his jubilee. The Barbarians lost 28–27. In 2011 he once again came out of retirement as a World Cup joker when Jean-Marc Doussain was selected as a late addition to the French World Cup squad to replace the injured David Skrela and played a single minute in the home game against

Agen Agen (, , ) is the prefecture of the Lot-et-Garonne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Southwestern France. It lies on the river Garonne, southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485. Geography The city of Agen l ...

as a scrum-half replacement to Nicolas Bézy, much to the fans' delight. As the

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () (), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulouse is the most successfu ...

retained their Domestic Championship title that year, Élissalde became a two-time French champion both as a player and as a coach (in addition to already being a three-time European champion and a two-time Six Nations champion as a player).

Trivia

* His surname (''Elizalde'' in

Standard Basque Standard Basque () is a standardised version of the Basque language, developed by the Basque Language Academy in the late 1960s, which nowadays is the most widely and commonly spoken Basque-language version throughout the Basque Country. Heavil ...

, from ''eliza'' "church" and ''alde'' "side"), means "near the church" in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

Notes and references

External links

ERC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elissalde, Jean-Baptiste 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from La Rochelle Rugby union players from Nouvelle-Aquitaine French-Basque people French rugby union coaches French rugby union players Stade Toulousain coaches Stade Toulousain players Rugby union fly-halves Rugby union scrum-halves France international rugby union players Stade Rochelais players