Christophe Lamaison

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Christophe Lamaison (born 8 April 1971 in Dax, Landes, France) is a former French rugby union footballer who represented France at international level, and Brive, Agen and Aviron Bayonnais at professional club level. He won 37 caps and is the current all-time leading points scorer for France, with 380 points. Lamaison played most of his rugby as a centre, and possessed reliable distribution and kicking skills, which made up for his only real weakness, a lack of pace. He could also play at fly-half. He made his international debut against South Africa on 30th November 1996 in Paris, and rose to prominence as a key member of France's Grand slam-winning sides of 1997 and 1998. His goalkicking ability also helped Brive reach the Heineken Cup final in 1998 and 1999.

Lamaison's finest hour came at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in the memorable semifinal against New Zealand at Twickenham. Selected at fly-half for the match, Lamaison produced one of the finest solo performances at a Rugby World Cup, scoring a full house of points and setting up several tries with some finely placed kicks. He scored the first try of the game, the result of a brilliant run from Christophe Dominici, but New Zealand hit back, with the imperious Jonah Lomu scoring two tries, and at one stage led 24-10 in the second half. Then Lamaison took control, capitalizing on some good work from the French forwards to kick two drop goals and two penalties, bringing the score back to 24-22. He also quelled the threat of Jonah Lomu by forcing him to turn and chase the ball. In 13 mad minutes of rugby, the French scored 26 unanswered points and won 43-31 in one of the greatest upsets in Rugby World Cup history.

In 2000, Lamaison almost repeated his semifinal performance against New Zealand, scoring 27 points in a 42-33 victory. In 2004, he stopped his professional rugby union career despite lucrative offers from the English side Saracens and played for Saint-Médard-en-Jalles in the Fédérale 2. He retired from all rugby in 2006.

[edit] External links

• French rugby records
• Profile at BBC
• Match report from 1999 RWC Semi-final
• Profile at lequipe.fr
• RWC 1999 Semi-final match report at AllBlacks.com
• 2000 international between All Blacks and France
• Profile at ffr.fr
• No ifs or buts for `lucky' Lamaison - article from The Independent

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