Clément POITRENAUD

Biog of Clément POITRENAUD :

“Time was running out for me,” commented Clement Poitrenaud when he was named in the starting line-up for the 2007 Six Nations opener against Italy. The World Cup was on the horizon and apart from a meaningless match in Romania in 2006 Poitrenaud had not played in the French shirt since the disastrous hiding at the hands of New Zealand at the Stade de France (6-45) in November 2004. “The whole team played badly and I was useless. It was the worst match of my career,” Poitrenaud later commented. He was not reconsidered for selection until the 2007 Six Nations tournament, only the second of his career.

He had, however, risen through the ranks at lightening speed at an early age playing his first match for the Toulouse first team at 18 and a half years of age. Poitrenaud won the French Championship as one of the starting centres in May 2001 and was named in the French squad straight afterwards although he had to drop out through injury. In November 2001, the 19-and-a-half-year-old Poitrenaud won his first international cap in a match against South Africa at full-back. Things were looking rosy. “Poitrenaud, the heir.” the headline in L’Equipe, read the day after his baptism. In the columns of the sports daily, he was compared to such illustrious forebears as Aguirre, Blanco and Sadourny, “He reflects a certain French spirit - you can tell he wants to enjoy himself.” Blanco stated, not without reason.

It is true that Poitrenaud loves to play. “His reading of the game and natural timing for coming into the line are innate, and his speed and ability to accelerate are far above the norm,” says Jo Maso, manager of Les Bleus and a skilful centre in the past in his own right. But on the eve of his first Six Nations tournament in 2003 Poitrenaud had only won three caps (in November 2001) due to injury, having already missed out on one Grand Slam winning campaign in 2002.

Poitrenaud’s inconsistency with the boot – “Until I was 15 I had practically never kicked a ball,” he explains – placed him behind Nicolas Brusque in the pecking order for the 2003 World Cup in Australia. Pépito Elhorga was picked in front of him for the 2004 Six Nations tournament and so Poitrenaud missed out on a second Grand Slam (apart for 20 minutes played in the centre against England). Then came the unforgettable Toulouse versus Wasps European Cup final. The score stood at 20-20 with only a few seconds of normal time remaining. Extra-time beckoned, but Poitrenaud made a fatal error, letting the ball roll into the dead-ball area, hesitating, and leaving the way for Rob Howley to dive in to touch down and hand the victory to the English side.

Clément Poitrenaud had already won the European Championship in 2003 and would do so again in 2005 and 2010, each time in the starting line-up. He had played in French Championship finals and would play in more in the future (defeats in 2003 and 2006). But the 2004 final at Twickenham will be remembered stays because of the way it ended. The Toulouse full-back was, however, included in the France “B” team’s tour of the USA and Canada two months later, and then donned the blue shirt for the aforementioned hiding by New Zealand before disappearing off the radar until 2007 due to coach Bernard Laporte’s preference for Brusque and Elhorga, first of all, then later in his reign, for Julien Laharrague and Thomas Castaignède. It was an injury to the latter that reopened the door, but Poitrenaud’s career became no more straightforward nevertheless.

The winger Cédric Heymans, his teammate at Toulouse, or Damien Traille were selected for the big matches in the 2007 World Cup. Poitrenaud suffered a fractured tibia/fibula in February 2008 depriving him of a first selection under the new coach Marc Lièvremont, and then the European Final and a French Championship title with Toulouse. In 2009 Poitrenaud made his comeback before being dropped again, finding himself once more behind Traille in the pecking order. Finally, in 2010, Poitrenaud, at 28 years of age, with 39 caps and more than eight turbulent years of international career already behind him, won his first Grand Slam. Was the fact that Clement Poitrenaud had been picked for the last seven matches in a row a sign that he would get an extended run in the French team? It would seem not. For some unexplained reason Lièvremont decided to do without his services for the November internationals.