Jean-Pierre Élissalde (born 31 December 1953) 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 ...

coach and former player.

Playing career

Élissalde began his career with his local team

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 ...

. He went on to play for

Bayonne Bayonne () is a city in southwestern France near the France–Spain border, Spanish border. It is a communes of France, commune and one of two subprefectures in France, subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques departments of France, departm ...

for two years between 1978 and 1980 before returning to his old club where he finished his career in 1988. He won 5 caps for the

France national rugby union team The France national rugby union team (, ) represents the French Rugby Federation (FFR; ) in men's international rugby union matches. Colloquially known as ''Le XV de France'' (French for "The XV of France"), the team traditionally wears blue ...

between 1980 and 1981.

Coaching career

He became coach of

immediately after retiring and remained there for five years. After a few months hiatus, he returned to the job in 1994 and stayed there for nine further years and finished his time there winning the penultimate

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 2003. After leaving La Rochelle, he joined

Béziers Béziers (; ) is a city in southern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Hérault Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. Every August Béziers ho ...

but he was sacked in 2005 after less than two years in charge as they were relegated from the Top 16. Soon after leaving Béziers, in March 2005 he became backs coach to the

Japan national rugby union team The Japan national rugby union team, also known as the Cherry Blossoms, the Brave Blossoms (), or simply Sakura, represents Japan in men's international rugby union. Japan is traditionally the strongest rugby union power in Asia and has enjoyed ...

, and three months later after Mitsutake Hagimoto was sacked he was appointed the first ever foreigner to coach Japan, and was backed to lead them to 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 ...

. After just over a year in charge, he was sacked in September 2006 after he took on a role with

without consulting the JFRU and then refused to give up his role to concentrate on coaching Japan. Élissalde went on to spend two seasons with Bayonne before being sacked in 2008. In December 2011, after Bayonne were languishing at the bottom of the Top 14 they sacked their coaches and Élissalde returned to

. However he was sacked after just 40 days in charge after Bayonne continued to struggle and failed to win a game under him in the Top 14, and as he left he was criticised by the Bayonne owner Alain Affleou who said "Élissalde was a mistake, he had a negative attitude towards the players".

Notes

Jean-Pierre Élissalde's father Arnaud Élissalde was also a previous player and coach of La Rochelle between 1947 and 1971. His father-in-law Laurent Bidart also played for La Rochelle and won 1 cap for in 1953. His son

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 ...

became the third generation of the family to play for La Rochelle when he made his debut in 1997, and also like his father went on to become a third generation French international winning 35 caps between 2000 and 2008. In March 2013, Élissalde admitted to having used

amphetamine Amphetamine (contracted from Alpha and beta carbon, alpha-methylphenethylamine, methylphenethylamine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is used in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), narcolepsy, an ...

s on two occasions during his playing career. While he indicated that doping was widespread during that era, he noted that in his experience as a player and coach, doping was exclusively an individual affair and not conducted on a team level.

External links

Jean-Pierre Élissalde International Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elissalde, Jeanpierre French rugby union players 20th-century French sportsmen France international rugby union players Aviron Bayonnais players French rugby union coaches French-Basque people Sportspeople from La Rochelle Rugby union players from Nouvelle-Aquitaine 1953 births Living people Japan national rugby team coaches Stade Rochelais players Doping cases in rugby union French expatriate sportspeople in Japan Rugby union scrum-halves Expatriate rugby union coaches