Sylvain MARCONNET

Biog of Sylvain MARCONNET :

Sylvain Marconnet is the highest-capped prop in French rugby history, ahead of Christian Califano and Pieter de Villiers, and the fourth highest-capped prop forward in the world (see the list below). He is a monument of French rugby with 83 caps since November 1998 to his name, 57 coming in the starting line-up. Marconnet maintained, nevertheless, on the day he beat Califano’s record, that, “It would be disrespectful to say I didn’t care but it’s not something I’ve thought much about. At the end of my career maybe…” These words appeared in L’Equipe on 11 February 2007, the day of his 70th cap and a victory at Croke Park. His career could have ended a few weeks later with his tally stuck on 71. On 4 March of the year the World Cup was to be held in France, Marconnet broke the tibia and fibula in his left leg in a skiing accident at Corbier, in the Alps.

Thanks to a meaningless tour of New Zealand in June 2007 where he played when he was needed, Califano earned two more caps and so equalled the record that Marconnet had recently taken from him. Marconnet would miss the World Cup despite his insistence that he would be ready and Laporte’s stubborn belief that he would be back. At the beginning of August, one month from the cut off date for naming the squad, Marconnet cracked his malleolus and Nicolas Mas was called up as replacement. Marconnet did not play again until March 2008, after four operations and a year’s absence, giving him ample opportunity to reflect on the distance he had travelled from Givor, the town of his birth, where as a child he watched his father play, a prop before him, and started playing rugby at six years of age. Later he joined Grenoble and played for their Under 21s where he moved from the back-row to the front-row because, as he has often explained, he had grown outwards rather than upwards. Fortunately the game was changing. “I wouldn’t have enjoyed playing like an old-style prop,” he commented, but Califano, who he admired, taught him to “love the position of prop in the modern game”.

At Grenoble, even when faced with the “mammoths” of the Fouroux era, “Sylvain found it easy, too easy,” recalled the hooker Fabrice Landreau in an article in L’Equipe in November 2004 entitled “The best in the world”. In 2004, at 28 years old and with 44 caps, the prop was finally fulfilling his immense potential, a potential that until then he had only partially exploited. After spending his youth in the foothills of the Alps, Marconnet had matured at Stade Français under the wings of the veterans, Simon, Moscato and Gimbert, already earning a few caps in the process – the first at 22 years of age just like Califano, who he was replacing. Marconnet went on to cement his position at club and international level. “Sylvain has everything he needs to be the best prop in the world,” his Australian coach (2002-2004), John Connolly, often said. And by 2004 he was the best, as at ease at loose-head as at tight-head where Laporte had moved him in 2003 to deputise for De Villiers who was suspended from the Six Nations tournament and then injured for the World Cup.

Marconnet has never had it easy, though, facing strong competition in Paris (from, in chronological order, Simon and then Roncero) and for France (Califano, Crenca, Millou). His versatility has helped him as much as it has hindered him - the high-class replacement who, after playing in a European and French Championship final for Stade Français in 2005 wearing the number 17 shirt, revealed “As a prop you don’t want to be wearing a shirt with two numbers on the back.” He rotated for France as well, with Milloud and De Villiers (2006-2007). Until his injury that is.

“Sylvain is a force of nature,” explained Hervé Chaffardon, who was an acquaintance of Marconnet’s in Grenoble and then Paris on the occasion of his 2007 record-breaking exploit. “In the weights room he destroys everyone, in the scrum he doesn’t move if he has decided not to, and for the rest, he is everywhere. The bloke is a mystery.” A mystery who was nevertheless determined enough to be recalled to the French squad in 2009, winning 9 more caps (7 starts) and a captaincy (Samoa 2009). Marconnet’s last cap came as a replacement against Ireland in February 2010, allowing him to play a part, however small, in the Grand Slam winning campaign, as he had previously in 2002. Competing with younger props (such as Domingo and Marcella, injured), some of whom are capable of playing loose-head or tight-head like himself (Poux, Schuster), 35-year-old Sylvain Marconnet , now playing for Biarritz after 13 years in Paris, was recalled to the French squad in January 2011 having been left out in November and June. Marconnet was a replacement against England in this year’s Six Nations tournament and then in the starting line-up against Italy. He did not survive the cull following the defeat on 12 March in Rome, however (first French defeat in Italy and first defeat against Italy in the Six Nations tournament), and was dropped along with five other players for the match against Wales. “Benefitting” from the injuries to Barcella and Domingo, he was nevertheless selected for the 32-man squad to prepare for the World Cup. On 21 August, a week after a final match against Ireland in Bordeaux, Marconnet was released from the group. In the end, Lièvremont picked Barcella (fully recovered) and selected a third hooker in the final 30-man squad. This would seem to mark the end of France’s most-capped prop’s international career.

Marconnet has won four French Championships with Stade Français: in 1998 (replacement), 2000, 2003 and 2004 (in the starting line-up), and played in a fifth final on the losing side (replacement). He has been on the losing side in two European finals in 2001 (start) and 2005 (replacement). For France, he played in the whole of the 2004 Grand Slam winning campaign and lost in the semi-final of the World Cup in 2003. Of his 57 starts he has played 33 times at loose-head and 24 at tight-head.


World’s most capped props (on 1 September 2011): 1. Jason Leonard (ENG, 114 caps + 5 for British Lions), 2. John Hayes (IRL, 105 + 2, still international), 3. Andreo Lo Cicero (ITL, 88, still international), 4. Sylvain Marconnet (FRA, 84), 5. Os du Randt (SA, 80), 6. Tony Woodcock (NZ, 76 still international), 7. Phil Vickery (ENG, 73+5), 8. CJ van der Linde (SA, 72 still international)…

France’s most capped props (on 1 September 2011): 1: Sylvain Marconnet (84), 2. Christian Califano (71), 3. Pieter de Villiers (69), 4. Robert Paparemborde (55), 5. Amédée Domenech (51)…