My father, this hero. There are many little boys who idolized their father, dreamed of imitating his exploits. In the French rugby team, sixteen of them have achieved this. Four are also playing in the current French team: Romain Ntamack, Damian Penaud, Hugo Auradou and Alexandre Roumat. The latter will also be on the match sheet to face Argentina this Friday evening, under the watchful eye of his father, Olivier.
“I never needed to prove anything or have to do better than the legend that he was,” he assures, however, refuting any pressure. Having this name has been an asset, not a liability. » With 62 selections between 1989 and 1996 and a victory in the Five Nations Tournament in 1993, Olivier Roumat is indeed one of the illustrious French internationals, in the same way as Émile Ntamack (46 selections between 1994 and 2000), David Auradou (41 selections between 1999 and 2004) and Alain Penaud (32 selections between 1992 and 2000).
But the two second row, the center and the fly half are not the only ones to have inspired their offspring. The record for joint selections goes to Michel and Dimitri Yachvili, with 108 appearances in total. A trained hooker, the father notably won the first Grand Slam in the history of the French XV in 1968, before being imitated by his younger son twice, while the eldest, Grégoire, was a Georgian international. When they tell you it’s in the blood…
Elissalde, Dourthe, Delaigue, Camberabero… the list is long
Among recent family stories, we also note the duo Éric and Hugo Bonneval (18 and 11 selections), to which could have been added Arthur, international for the under-20s and in rugby 7s but who was never selected to XV. Alexandre Dumoulin is also the son of a former international: Marc Cécillon. However, they never met, as the center was raised by his mother and stepfather.
Jacques and Aurélien Rougerie, Jean-Claude and David Skrela, Jean-Pierre and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde, Gilles and Yann Delaigue, and Claude and Richard Dourthe also all had the chance to wear the French team jersey . However, their fathers Rougerie and Delaigue only had one and two selections respectively. If we go back in the history of the XV of France, we also find Guy and Didier Camberabero, Elie and Michel Pebeyre, Lucien and Jacques Serin, as well as Henri and André Haget.
If these sixteen parentage links are the only ones in the French team, there are many others in the history of French rugby. Joshua Brennan, called up for the first time with the Blues during the autumn tour, is, for example, the son of former Irish international Trevor Brennan, while the father of Arthur Retière, who has one selection, was assistant coach of the XV of France alongside Marc Lièvremont.
The brothers Romain and Sébastien Taofifenua are the sons of Willy Taofifenua, former French Barbarians player, while Louis Carbonel and Matthis Lebel also had rugby player fathers. The tradition is therefore long, and should continue. The next on the list is perhaps Léo Carbonneau (20 years old), scrum half from Brive and son of Philippe Carbonneau (32 caps). With why not, in the coming years, several little Antoine Duponts?
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