Pascal PAPÉ

Biog of Pascal PAPÉ :

“I want you to become one of the best second rows in France,” Laurent Seigne, the Bourgoin trainer at the time, told Pascal Papé before 2004 and the young forward from the Isère region’s arrival on the international scene. He had spotted the potential immediately. Papé’s first appearances for les Bleus came in the 2004 Six Nations tournament, at the age of 23, ending in a Grand Slam for France. Papé was picked in the starting line-up for all five rounds partnering the captain, Fabien Pelous. He owed his selection to the absence of Jérôme Thion who would bar Papé’s way to the French team for many years to come (in that he was not alone). The tournament could have been the start of a long career, scoring a try on his first cap, but it proved to be a false dawn. Papé would have to be content with the crumbs left by the coach, Bernard Laporte’s, first choice second row combinations, as would also be the case for the 2005 summer tour (three starts partnering Millo-Chlusky, Privat and Lamboley).

In March 2006 Papé underwent an operation to widen the spinal canal to relieve the irritation on his sciatic nerve from which he had suffered for months. It could have been the end of his career in blue but he was quickly back. “Too quickly”, he explained later, rejoining the French team almost straight away as a replacement for Thion, once more, in November 2006. France was hit by the All Black cyclone in Lyon (3-47) and then Paris. Papé was not international standard, Laporte believed, selecting him nevertheless for three matches in the next Six Nations tournament (one start). “After my recovery I didn’t put in enough physical work”, he conceded in 2008. Between times, he had been led like a lamb to slaughter.

Papé was named captain for the nonsensical June 2007 tour of New Zealand while the semi-finalists of the Top 14 stayed behind in France. Papé (and others) was set an impossible task. “We knew we were going to lose heavily”, he recalls. “There were no more than half a dozen of us who had played at that level before. All we wanted was to stay out of the record books… Nonetheless we conceded more than 100 points in two matches!” 103 points, to be precise. Knocked out, Papé left the field in the 32nd minute of the second test, a match that set two new records (score and points difference: 61-10). For the World Cup, Laporte picked the new media phenomenon Chabal ahead of Papé, even though he was not a specialist second row player. “A broken dream”.

Leaving Castres, where he had spent a difficult year after six seasons at Bourgoin, Papé looked for a new beginning in Paris, signing for Stade Français. “I was filling Auradou and James’s boots, I didn’t want anyone to be able to say that I wasn’t a good replacement,” he stated. In fact he proved so good that he was recalled to the French squad by the new coaching team for the 2008 Six Nations tournament . Didier Retière, Lièvremont’s forwards’ coach, explains, “Pascal is an example of what a modern second row should be. A very good compromise between power and mobility.” He was partnered by the new captain, Nallet, his friend from his time at Bourgoin and teammate at Castres, another who had found himself out of favour in the Laporte era. “Together, we are scared of no one”, he said.

However after winning just one more cap (which he experienced “as though it was the first” so great was his desire to forget the past), he suffered knee problems while playing in the French Championship. First the meniscus in March, and then anterior cruciate ligament damage before the semi-final against Toulouse. Nothing but bad luck! Since then Papé has put in some promising performances for the French team (victory in New Zealand, two rounds of the 2010 Grand Slam) but he has also suffered set backs - he played in the defeat against Argentina in June. Papé was picked for the November 2010 tests but had to drop out due to injury (bruised thigh) - again…  Lièvremont did not forget him in 2011, however, but using him as Laporte had done previously as a back-up. Selected in the 30-man provisional squad for the Six Nations tournament, Papé was not picked for the first four matches, placed once more behind Thion in the pecking order. The historic defeat in Italy opened the door to the French team again and he was recalled, as a replacement for the last match against Wales.

Pascal Papé, one of the rare French second rows to be dangerous with the ball in hand, and a finalist of the European Challenge cup with Stade Français, was logically selected on 11 May for the squad to prepare for the 2011 World Cup. It remains to be seen if he can cement his place in France’s first team.