Jean-Pierre Élissalde (born 31 December 1953) is a French rugby union former player and a current coach.
A native of La Rochelle, a seaport city on the Bay of Biscay, Jean-Pierre Élissalde played, at scrum half, five times for France in 1980 and 1981. He coached at Atlantique Stade Rochelais and AS Béziers Hérault.
He was appointed technical advisor in March 2005 and was nominated the first foreign head coach of Japan national rugby union team in July. His contract was dissolved by the Japan Rugby Football Union (JRFU) in September 2006, after Élissalde was assigned with Aviron Bayonnais of France. Élissalde refused to give up when JRFU asked him to do so in order to concentrate on the Japan head coach position. On 27 September 2006, JRFU dissolved his contract with him, resulting in his assistant coach, Osamu Ota, taking over as caretaker manager.
In December 2011, he was named the new head coach at Bayonne following that club's dismissal of its entire coaching staff.
Jean-Pierre Élissalde is the father of former French scrum half and current Toulouse backs coach Jean-Baptiste Élissalde, and his father-in-law Laurent Bidart has also represented France.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mitsutake Hagimoto |
Japan National Rugby Union Coach 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Osamu Ota (caretaker) |
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