Émile NTAMACK

Biog of Émile NTAMACK :

Like Serge Blanco, Emile Ntamack with his long lazy strides, might have appeared slow but he was deceptively quick. Known as the Black Panther for his feline grace and skin colour, Ntamack was more elegant than the elder Blanco, however. And he could certainly make ground. Remember the interception and length-of-the-pitch run at Eden Park, Auckland on 3 July 1994? “Milou” was delivering on the promise of his first games in the French colours under Pierre Berbizier. The team as a whole demonstrated their rude health by winning a test series in New Zealand for the first time. With four selections and wearing the number 14 shirt, Ntamack lined up outside the number 13, Philippe Sella (101 caps). Facing him was the future monster of planet rugby, Jonah Lomu, younger than Ntamack and at that time still far from the finished article.

Ntamack was 24 years old and with Stade Toulousain had just lifted the first of his five French championships. For the next three years, he made the number 14 position in the French team his own, forming with fellow winger and captain, Philippe Saint-André and fullback, Jean-Luc Sadourny, an unstoppable attacking back three, playing 25 times together between 1994 and 1996.
Before a serious groin injury badly disrupted the 1997 and 1998 seasons, Ntamack had already had the time to win three more Brennus Shields (two as captain in 1996 and 1997), the first ever Championship/European Cup double in 1996, and to finish third in the 1995 World Cup.
The injury led him to miss the 1997 and 1998 Grand Slam campaigns (apart from the first match in 1997). He made use of this time to create the professional players union. On his comeback he was stronger and - Lomu aside - had become one of the first backs to weigh in at more than 100 kilos. Ntamack’s game was also more rounded, covering the position of fullback for France in the 1999 Five Nations tournament in which he scored a hat trick of tries despite being on the losing side against Wales. For the 1999 World Cup Ntamack was moved into the centre (the position he had occupied for Toulouse in his fifth Brennus Shield win a few months earlier) alongside Richard Dourthe. The incredible semi-final victory against the All Blacks followed and then defeat to Australia in the final – earning a second-place medal nevertheless.

Ntamack did not leave his comeback to chance. “In his search for excellence, Emile was always asking questions of himself”, recalls Guy Novès, his coach at Toulouse between 1993 and 2004. He ended his international career at the age of 29 after the 2000 Six Nations tournament. Selected by the third coach in a row (Berbizier, Skrela, Laporte), during the campaign Ntamack played at wing, centre and fullback scoring his 26th and last try for France (in 46 appearances). Ntamack continued his quest for the summit with Stade Toulousain (even if he did miss a sixth French championship title in 2001 through injury), winning the 2003 European Cup and reaching the final of the French championship in 2003 and the European Cup in 2004. In June 2004, his trophy cabinet overflowing (having scored 21 tries in 49 European appearances), Ntamack brought his playing career to a close.

He had already launched his own brand of clothing, NTK, and was working for Orange. On the rugby side, Ntamack began training the Stade Toulousain “Hopefuls” before taking up the post, along with Didier Retière, of coach for France under-21s with whom he won the 2006 World Cup. In 2007 Ntamack was appointed backs coach for France’s senior team under Marc Lièvremont.