Raphaël Ibañez (born 17 February 1973) is a retired French rugby union footballer. A
hooker
Hooker may refer to:
People
* Hooker (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Mount Hooker (Antarctica)
* Cape Hooker (Antarctica)
* Cape Hooker (South Shetland Islands)
New Zealand
* Hooker River
* Mount Hooker (New Zealand) in the Southern Alps
* Hoo ...
, he represented the
France national team
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 e ...
98 times, and as captain 41 times.
After a career in club rugby management, he became Team Manager for France in 2020.
Early life
Ibañez was born in
Dax
Dax or DAX may refer to:
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* DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies
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** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms
* Dax Ca ...
, Landes. He began his playing career in his home town of
Dax
Dax or DAX may refer to:
Business and organizations
* DAX, stock market index of the top 40 German companies
** DAX 100, an expanded index of 100 stocks, superseded by the HDAX
** TecDAX, stock index of the top 30 German technology firms
* Dax Ca ...
before moving to
Perpignan
Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...
and
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lang ...
.
Club career
After his first international retirement following the
2003 World Cup, he moved to
Saracens
upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens
Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...
. In 2005 he moved to
Wasps
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
on a two-year deal. In the first match of the following season, he was made captain as replacement for the injured
Lawrence Dallaglio
Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
He played as a flanker or number eight f ...
.
He was also heavily responsible for
London Wasps' win in the
2007 Heineken Cup final, playing in the same side as fellow Six Nations captain
Phil Vickery. Wasps beat long-time rivals Leicester at Twickenham and Ibanez scored one of Wasps's tries.
The following season he also started as Wasps won the
2007–08 Premiership Final in former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio's last match.
Ibañez continued to play for Wasps until suffering a series of what ultimately proved to be career-ending head injuries in late 2008. On 28 February 2008, Wasps announced that Ibañez and the club had agreed on a contract extension that would see him serve as a specialist forwards coach in the London Wasps Academy, as well as play for the senior side, during the 2008–09 season.
On 5 August 2008 Ibanez was named as successor to
Lawrence Dallaglio
Lorenzo Bruno Nero Dallaglio (born 10 August 1972), known as Lawrence Dallaglio, is an English retired rugby union player, former captain of England, and 2016 inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame.
He played as a flanker or number eight f ...
to take over the captaincy at
London Wasps
On his 36th birthday, 17 February 2009, Ibanez announced his retirement from all rugby as a player. He suffered a
concussion
A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentratio ...
in a match against
Worcester Warriors
Worcester Warriors Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union club, based in Worcester, England, that is currently in administration and which has been suspended and will be relegated from Premiership Rugby, the top division of domestic ...
in September 2008, and suffered further head injuries in two later games. Whilst completing a two-month rest period, he continued to suffer symptoms from his injuries during training sessions, and ended his playing career on medical advice.
International career
He made his debut against Wales in 1996 and went on to win 72 caps for his country, including 27 as captain, before his first retirement from international rugby in 2003. He won successive Grand Slams with France in 1997 and 1998 and led them to the World Cup Final in
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...
.
Ibañez retired from international rugby after the
2003 World Cup, but French coach
Bernard Laporte
Bernard Laporte (born 1 July 1964) is a rugby player, coach and former French Secretary of State for Sport. From 1999 to 2007, Laporte was the head coach of the France national team. In 2011, he became the head coach at Toulon, after Philippe Sa ...
made it one of his priorities to bring him back into the fold, especially after fellow hooker
William Servat was ruled out of the autumn schedule with a neck injury. He added 26 more France Test caps, 15 of them as captain, before announcing his second and final international retirement in 2008.
Ibañez served as France captain for the
2007 Six Nations
The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...
, taking over from the injured
Fabien Pelous
Fabien Pelous (born 7 December 1973) is a retired French rugby union footballer. A lock who also occasionally played as a number eight and flanker, he played the bulk of his professional career for Stade Toulousain, and is the all-time leader i ...
for France's first two matches, and then being named captain for the remainder of the competition after Pelous' injury ruled him out of France's remaining three fixtures. Also in the
2007 Six Nations
The 2007 Six Nations Championship was the eighth series of the rugby union Six Nations Championship. Including the previous incarnations as the Home Nations and Five Nations, this was the 113th series of the international championship. Fifteen mat ...
Ibañez became the first player to score a try in the 82,300 capacity
Croke Park
Croke Park ( ga, Páirc an Chrócaigh, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and h ...
after the
Gaelic Athletic Association
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...
(GAA) modified their
Rule 42 in 2005 which banned foreign sports from being played in Croke Park. Under the modified rule both the
Ireland national rugby union team
The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Cha ...
and
Republic of Ireland national football team
, FIFA Trigramme = IRL
, Name = Republic of Ireland
, Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI)
, Confederation = UEFA (Europe)
, website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...
were allowed to play their home games in Croke Park while renovations were carried out on
Lansdowne Road
Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...
(reopened as the
Aviva Stadium
Aviva Stadium (also known as Lansdowne Road) is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,700 spectators (all seated). It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and re ...
).
After Pelous' injury troubles continued, Ibañez was named as France captain for the
2007 World Cup, with Pelous as his unofficial vice-captain.
France went on to finish fourth in the 2007 World Cup.
Ibañez announced his second retirement from Test rugby on 10 January 2008.
In 2020, after a career in club rugby management, and following the retirement of coach Bernard Laporte, Ibañez was appointed as Team Manager for France in a joint appointment with
Fabien Galthié
Fabien Galthié (; born 20 March 1969) is a French rugby union coach and former player, he is currently the head coach of the French national team. His usual position was at scrum-half. He played much of his club rugby for Colomiers, and later ...
as Head Coach and Selector to lead the side into the 2023 World Cup to be staged in France.
Media work
Ibanez has published two books and has been a regular guest in the BBC's Six Nations studio. He also comments on the
Six Nations for the French channel
France 2
France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews.
Since 3:20 CET on ...
.
Personal life
In his spare time he enjoys fly-fishing and extreme sports like rock climbing and kayaking.
See also
*
List of rugby union test caps leaders
Notes and references
External links
Wasps profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ibanez, Raphael
1973 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Landes (department)
French people of Spanish descent
French rugby union players
People from Dax, Landes
Saracens F.C. players
Wasps RFC players
Barbarian F.C. players
Rugby union hookers
France international rugby union players
French rugby union coaches
Union Bordeaux Bègles coaches
Castres Olympique players
US Dax players
USA Perpignan players