Vincent CLERC

Biog of Vincent CLERC :

Vincent Clerc made his mark right from the beginning. Starting on the right wing for France on 9 November 2002, after only seven matches in the Top 16 and two in the European Cup with Toulouse (having already scored six tries), Vincent Clerc set a record for precocity. That evening against the Springboks he scored the first of his 24 international tries. One and a half years earlier, Clerc was still playing rugby for Grenoble colts, and then, within the space of just a few weeks, he had taken up his place at Toulouse between Ntamack, Jeanjean, Heymans, Marfaing and Garbajosa, and was lined up alongside Dominici, Bory, Rougerie (injured at the time), Heymans and Garbajosa for France. His international rise would last for the entire season (10 caps out of a possible 11, and 4 tries), and at club level for Toulouse as well (15 tries including 1 in the H Cup, European champion, French championship runner-up). The World Cup was in his sights. But Clerc was left at home, a victim of Bernard Laporte’s preference for polyvalent players, with Dominici and Elhorga being picked in his stead. “That was a pretty big blow,” he admitted. Convinced that he would be on the plane to Australia, frustration led him to bang his head against the bay windows of the family home in the Isère.

Three years in and out of the French team followed for the “little” (still) helmeted winger, playing in three rounds of the 2004 Grand Slam and then earning three caps between June 2005 and February 2007. Clerc seemed to have to do twice as much as his rivals, despite his sparkling form for Toulouse where, apart from the end of the 2004 season (replacement in the European Cup defeat), one impressive performance followed another (European Cup 2005, runner-up French championship 2006), scoring 42 tries in three seasons (2003-2006)! “You can see the white line in his eyes,” says Jacques Delmas on the subject, who promoted Clerc to the Grenoble first team in the Pro D2. Clerc has always been a formidable finisher. “It’s a special sort of adrenalin rush,” he explains. “When you see the in-goal area, you have to do that little bit extra to score, use that determination to go forward”. This instinct sometimes led Clerc to become isolated from his support, obsessed as he could be by the try-line. But at the Toulouse rugby school he learnt the importance of continuity in the game and from then on kept the ball alive. Clerc lit up the victorious June 2006 Cape test against South Africa with two more tries and his overall performance, but it was still not enough. “I missed one World Cup, I’m not going to miss another,” he repeated, nevertheless.

On 11 February 2007, at Croke Park, he finally turned the tables. Rougerie had been left out and Clerc was in the starting line up. In the 79th minute, after a good all-round match, Clerc, stepping inside then out like only he knows how to, broke through the Irish defence to score and give France victory. This time it was enough. “He has reshuffled the cards as far as the wing position goes,” commented his friend, Cédric Heymans. Clerc had his World Cup. He missed the opening game against Argentina (defeat) but played in all of the others, scoring five tries (including a hat trick against Namibia, and a double against Ireland). Marc Lièvremont, the new coach, taking up his position after the tournament, immediately reselected Clerc who then scored a double against Scotland in the opening game of the 2008 Six Nations tournament and another hat trick against Ireland, making a total of 21 tries in 19 matches in all competitions since the start of the World Cup. “He’s a jet aircraft,” commented Christian Darrouy, in L’Equipe. Darrouy, a winger in the 1950s and 60s, was still above Clerc in the list of highest French try-scorer at the time of writing. “He is a cross between Lagisquet, the runner, and Philippe Saint-André who could make a difference in very little space,” added Guy Novès, his trainer at Toulouse. Clerc is a puncher capable of running 100 metres in 10.37 seconds.

On 19 April 2008 the run came to an end in the game against Clermont in the Top 14. Clerc suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while side stepping with nobody near him. “Too much fatigue, my body said stop,” said Clerc. “We play too much rugby over too long a period now”. Clerc’s first serious injury kept him on the sidelines for 239 days. He was a new man on his comeback in December 2008 (between times he had missed out on a European Cup final and French Championship title). “When you get back on the pitch it’s like being a young professional again,” he commented. By his own admission, Clerc did not get back to his pre-injury levels until June 2010 even if, in fits and starts, his legs and his vision had led to his recall to the French team as early as June 2009. (victory in New Zealand). Glimpses of the old skills allowed him to claim the record for the number of tries scored in the European Cup in October 2009 (32 today - the record still stands), to contribute to the 2010 Grand Slam winning campaign (two matches) and to bring his total number of tries in the French shirt to 22, making him, at the time, les Bleus’ eighth highest try-scorer in history and equal first (with Rougerie) still active.

Clerc had been one of the rare players to hold his own against the Springboks in the heavy defeat in the Cape in June 2010 (42-7), but was considered "less decisive" than of old by the French staff and was not selected, to overall surprise, for the November tests. Clerc was selected for the 30-man squad to prepare for the 2011 Six Nations tournament but only earned a slot in the match day 22 due to the injury of his Toulouse teammate David Skrela. He played in all five matches, the first two as a replacement, and scored two more tries lifting him to seventh place on France’s all-time highest try-scorers list (24). Naturally, Clerc was selected for the World Cup in New Zealand. He then went on to win his first French Championship title with Toulouse against Montpellier (injured and absent for the semi-final, he came on in the 64th minute) shortly afterwards. He scored one new try against Ireland in August, in Bordeaux, that made him become the sixth French try scorer with 25 tries.