Imanol HARINORDOQUY

Biog of Imanol HARINORDOQUY :

When André Lestorte, president of the Section Paloise rugby club, offered Imanol Harinordoquy his first professional contract, one of three years, the 20-year-old Harinordoquy replied, “Not three years, one year. And if I don’t like it after three months, I’m off home.” Home for Harinordoquy is Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Pyrénées atlantiques region and the Garazi club that he intended to return to after winning the Under 21 French Championship with his teammates at Pau. For the young Imanol, rugby meant two training sessions and a match a week; it was a pastime, a way to let off steam, but certainly not a career. He intended to follow in the footsteps of his father, a livestock merchant. But because “the only people that don’t make mistakes are those that don’t try anything,” he decided to take the chance and signed the contract in the summer of 2000. It was the start of a brilliant career, still going and already rewarded by the middle of2011with 69 French caps, three Grand Slams (2002, 2004, 2010) and two World Cup semi-finals (2003, 2007). At club level with Biarritz he has two French Championships to his name (2005, 2006) and two European finals (2006, 2010).

There have, however, been a few lulls in this upward trajectory that has quite understandably run out of steam at times. Imanol Harinordoquy was first selected (and in the starting line-up) for the second match of the 2001 Six Nations tournament in Cardiff, when not yet 22 years old. He was capped 32 times between February 2002 and February 2005 (30 starts, 26 times at number 8), and was a vital component in the French back-row flanked by the two legends, Serge Betsen and Olivier Magne. During this time, the trio appeared together 24 times in the starting line-up, a period that proved to be Harinordoquy’s most prolific period in the French shirt, scoring tries in the World Cup against Fiji, Scotland and Ireland and during his second Grand Slam campaign against Italy (twice), Wales and England. He then signed for Biarritz, the up-and-coming Basque club, and the momentum was lost. “I had played for four or five years without ever injuring myself, everything was fine,” he recalls today. “Then I changed clubs and I knew that a prophet is not without honour save in his own country [Basque, editor’s note]. It was going to be tough and I had my share of difficult times. I wasn’t playing in my best position and was carrying injuries. For a while I thought I had forgotten how to pass.” The competition from Thomas Lièvremont at BO and the newcomer in the French team, Julien Bonnaire, added to the pressure. On 26 February 2005, like a sign, coming on at the end of the match, Imanol Harinordoquy failed to clear at the back of the scrum and that was the end of his run for a while. In the coming months Bernard Laporte’s selection choices coupled with injury niggles would disrupt his international career until 2007 (2 caps in 2 years, in June 2006). Harinordoquy, the first back-row player from the Basque country to don the French shirt since Michel Celaya at the end of the 1950s, was judged a little too haughty for his own good. “When I walk, I hold myself straight and don’t look down; I’m proud, it’s true,” he admits – and more of a glory boy than a grafter. But the big man put his nose to the grindstone and worked twice as hard to cement his place at Biarritz as he had at Pau previously. He recognises that he “became harder mentally,” physically too, weighing between 108 and 110 kg now compared to 100 when he started out. In June 2006, Patrice Lagisquet, his coach at Biarritz, stated in L’Equipe Magazine that “Imanol has become serious and less visible, but also more complete and more efficient. He has added consistency, application and physical presence to his game. He plays without complex. There is another dimension to him within the group as well. Frankly he is awesome.” And that was the player who resurfaced in the Basque country, contributing to two historic campaigns (two Top 14 wins in a row in 2005 and 2006) before being recalled to the French squad in the World Cup year. From the 2007 World Cup, the impact Harinordoquy made when coming on as a replacement in the quarterfinal stays in mind. Just a few metres from his own line he turned the ball over after an impressive series of All-Black pick-and-go’s, saving an almost certain try.

Despite the desire of the new staff, that took over in 2008, to rejuvenate the national squad, Harinordoquy, who will turn 31 in 2011, has succeeded in “seducing” Marc Lièvremont to become the number eight to appear most in the new coach’s starting line-up with 16 starts, ahead of Picamoles (8),  Bonnaire (5) and Chabal (4). A keystone in the 2010 Grand Slam, leading player for European finalist Biarritz Olympique and captain since August (he has signed for BO until at least 2014), Imanol had a difficult autumn in 2010, usurped by Sébastien Chabal who was now being selected at number eight rather than second row. 2011 proved to be more auspicious and during the Six Nations Harinordoquy played in all five games (three in the starting line-up), making the most, notably, of Chabal’s poor performances against England and Italy, to make the number eight shirt his own again by the end of the tournament. Although he has been selected for the World Cup, his place in the centre of the back row is not assured. Lièvremont has picked two other number eight specialists, Louis Picamoles from Toulouse and Raphael Lakafia, the revelation of the year at Biarritz, who has pushed Harinordoquy on to the flank.

With Biarritz, Harinordoquy reached the knockout stages of the Top 14 (losing in a play-off against Clermont) after three barren years and played in a European Cup quarter- final (lost to Toulouse). In September/October he will play in his third World Cup campaign.