Fabien BARCELLA

Biog of Fabien BARCELLA :

On 13 June 2009, the day of the French exploit against New Zealand at Carisbrook in Dunedin, Fabien Barcella placed the bar very high for defensive play by a prop, making 18 tackles in the unexpected 22-27 victory. He had just completed his first season at Biarritz Olympique after a journey that seemed to have covered the whole of the South West, starting out at Valence d’Agen where he learnt the ropes and moved up to the Fédérale 1 division in 2005-2006 (Barcella was selected for the French amateur team at this time), and then passing through Toulouse where he did not make the grade, before moving on to play at Auch in the Pro D2 and the Top 14. Moreover, it was whilst he was playing in the Gers region that Barcella first appeared on Marc Lièvremont’s radar.

2009 was a breakthrough year for Barcella, already a permanent fixture as France’s loose-head prop. In November, in harness with Servat, Mas and the rest of les Bleu’s forward pack, he bullied the World Champions South Africa. Never one to hide his light under a bushel, he raised his arms to the sky. Two months later, on 10 January 2010 at the Stade de France against Stade Français, Barcella ruptured the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. By March, he was already back on the field but spent the rest of the season at Biarritz as a replacement (European Cup final defeat against Toulouse) before leaving on tour with the French team – although only to play in the test match against Argentina. Barcella looked to be back on track a year before the World Cup. And then, on 15 August, the day after the opening matches of the 2010-2011 Top 14 season, Barcella’s Achilles tendon gave way totally in a match between Biarritz “hopefuls” and the pros (of which he was one) who had not played the day before.

In December, the tendon partially ruptured again and what should have been a seven-month convalescence period became a totally written-off season. Nevertheless, on 11 May Marc Lièvremont called up Fabien Barcella to the squad to prepare for the World Cup (Thomas Domingo, who had taken over as the French loose-head prop, had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee at the beginning of April). The Biarritz player proved to be up to the challenge. When Barcella ran onto the pitch on 20 August for the second half of the match against Ireland in Dublin (a tear to his left bicep had set him back again at the beginning of August), he had not played in a competitive match for 14 months. Despite a mediocre performance he convinced Lièvremont to take him to New Zealand where he will take part in his first World Cup.