Julien BONNAIRE

Biog of Julien BONNAIRE :

At 16 years old Julien Bonnaire, although very keen on sport (tennis in particular), had never played rugby, despite hailing from Bourgoin-Jallieu, a town obsessed with the game. His first encounter with the oval ball came at Saint-Savin, where the appropriately named Stade de l'Eglise is as revered as the adjoining church for having been the early stomping ground of the legendary Marc Cecillon.

Bonnaire's lucky break came in attracting the attention of Michel Couturas very early on. A native of the southwest, Coutras had come to the area with the aim of finally making CSBJ a rugby powerhouse. “Bourgoin had played on the Saturday and the following day I went along to Saint-Savin,” explains Couturas. “We’d been told about a young lad who played for the first team. And there I saw a tall full-back. It was Julien. Strangely, the first thing that struck me was his kicking game: long, not particularly accurate, but very long.” It was 1999. Bonnaire decided to sign for Bourgoin - on one condition. “His sole obsession was to get a job working in Bourgoin’s parks and gardens,” recalls Couturas. “What mattered to Julien wasn't so much playing for the first team but having a steady job.” Professional rugby would have to wait and Bonnaire mowed the municipal grass in the morning before running out onto the pitch at Rajon in the afternoon - the life of an apprentice rugby player.

After a year, Couturas moved Bonnaire into the back row and he excelled immediately. His wide shoulders and power in the contact area made him a great tackler and his speed meant he was excellent in support. He played his first minutes for the first team in 2001-2002 and then little by little the minutes became a half. A few months later Bonnaire was in the starting line-up, pushing Arnaud Costes, who had come to the Isère to relaunch his career (2002-2003), onto the bench. The new generation was taking over. Bonnaire grew up in the shadow and under the protection of Lionel Nallet and Sébastien Chabal before becoming one of the mainstays of the Bourgoin pack in his own right, alongside Pascal Papé and Olivier Milloud.

By summer 2004, Bonnaire had picked up one cap as a replacement in the Scotland/France game in the Six Nations tournament and became a full-time professional. The effect was immediate. He was replacement twice more in November 2004 and by 2005 was in the starting line-up. From the first match of the Six Nations that year until the last match of the 2007 World Cup, Laporte selected his favourite back-row player 35 out of a possible 39 times, as flanker or number eight – even though he was in direct competition with Magne, Betsen, Harinordoquy and Thomas Lièvremont! Laurent Seigne, his coach at the time, described him as “a decathlete”. “In the line-out he is as good as Tabacco and in open play as good as Magne because he can run fast and for a long time. In the combat he is everywhere, in defence he has the best tackling stats at Bourgoin, and because he first played in the backs he reads the game well,” Seigne claimed in an interview in the pages of L’Equipe. High praise indeed.

The only season when Bonnaire was not as good as the competition was during his first year at Clermont, in 2007-2008, the time it took to adapt to his new surroundings. The man from Isére had left it as late as he possibly could, however, before his inevitable departure. Since then times have been good for Bonnaire in the Auvergne (three Top 14 finals, one victory in 2010, European Cup quarterfinal in 2010) playing flanker or number eight. But he has never forgotten where he comes from and the day after winning the Brennus shield Bonnaire, seated next to Morgan Parra, another former Bourgoin player, declared “I would just like to salute our formative club, Bourgoin. If today Morgan Parra and I can lift the Brennus shield it is also thanks to CSBJ. We haven’t forgotten that.” And despite the fact that competition has become even stiffer with les Bleus’ new staff’s desire to rejuvenate the squad, and despite an operation on a persistent groin problem in the summer of 2009, Bonnaire has become indispensible in the Lièvremont era as well, earning 24 caps since 2008 and more importantly 17 from the last 18 matches (since November 2009). So he was a logical selection for the 2011 World Cup.

ITW Julien Bonnaire Rugby Connection 1/2

ITW Julien Bonnaire Rugby Connection 2/2