Abdelatif BENAZZI

Biog of Abdelatif BENAZZI :

A quote from French appearance record holder, Fabien Pelous, puts Abdelatif Benazzi’s career in perspective: “A rugby UFO who terrified the entire oval-ball planet. Abdel really hurt his opponents. When he used the speed/mass combination to its maximum, the sea of players parted before him”*. Having taken the field with “Abdel the Moroccan” on numerous occasions, the great Pelous is well placed to comment. They played together in the second row or with one in the back row, pushing behind the other in the tight five. That Benazzi was a juggernaut is beyond question.

During the 1990s, although perhaps not the most skilful of players, he was one of the most destructive ball carriers in the world. This would prove insufficient, however, on a day of torrential rain when the sea closed in front of him, holding him up on the line and preventing a score. The occasion was the 1995 World Cup semi-final at King’s Park Durban against South Africa and the fact that the try was not given denied France victory, and the Springboks went on to win the final a week later. Afterwards, Benazzi said that the huge victory celebrations reuniting blacks and whites in a country still suffering from the effects of apartheid more than made up for his try being refused. He had been touched by Nelson Mandela’s conviction and charisma and in 2005 Mandela would write the preface to Benazzi’s autobiography Benazzi, une vie à l’essai.

Tall (1.98m) and heavy (112kg), Abdelatif Benazzi was nevertheless quick, allowing him to breach opponents’ defences on countless occasions, for his club Agen, and then later for France. In 1996, he became the first French captain not born in France and as captain would lead les Bleus to the 1997 Five Nations Grand Slam. Benazzi was originally from Oujda in Northern Morocco, where he discovered rugby at the age of 14 and quickly became the best player in the country. In 1998 he moved to France, playing initially for Cahors in the second division and then Agen. Life in the French game (including at his own club) was not always easy for a practising Muslim from the Maghreb, but his rise was meteoric.

Benazzi was selected by Jacques Fouroux in 1990, and from then on by all subsequent coaches (Dubroca-Trillo, Berbizier, Skrela-Villepreux, Laporte). In particular, he made a perfectly complimentary back row unit with Cabannes and Benetton (series win in New Zealand 1994), and later partnered Pelous in an indestructible second row pairing that even got the better of the All Blacks (yet again) in the legendary semi-final of the 1999 World Cup at Twickenham. So Benazzi has known highs, to which must be added a French championship final with Agen in 1990. He has also known lows, such as the (disputable) red card on his first cap just thirteen minutes into the game against Australia in June 1990, a reverse that would be quickly forgotten. Another was the Springbok tidal wave at the Parc des Princes in 1997 that he also came back from. Between 1990 and 2001 Benazzi won 78 caps in total. In addition he experienced rugby in England with Saracens from 2001 to 2003.

In 1997 Benazzi joined the Committee for Integration where he remained for three years. He was made Chevalier de la Légion in 1999 and then in 2008 Officier National de l’Ordre du Mérite. Today he is president of the Noor Association that campaigns for social and educational integration for Moroccan children. After working for Unilever, then in sports marketing for Sportsfive, Abdelatif Benazzi created Benazzi Concept specialising in management coaching and business consulting.

*Fabien Pelous, 118 vies, Prolongations publications, p65.