Fabien Galthie
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Fabien Galthié (born 1969 in Cahors) is a former French rugby union player. His usual position was at scrumhalf. he played his club rugby for the US Colomiers, and later on in his career, Stade Francais. Galthié won 64 caps for France, including four Rugby World Cup appearances, as well as captaining the side at the 2003 World Cup. National coach v has described him as the greatest scrumhalf in French history.[link]
Galthié began his career at a club in Tournefeuille, before joining the US Colomiers. He made his international debut for France in a match against Romania in June of 1991. In 1991 he found himself getting a call up into France's 1991 Rugby World Cup squad, replacing an injured Pierre Berbizier. At first he was not included in France's 1995 Rugby World Cup squad, but was again drafted in, playing in the semi-final defeat to the Springboks.
After being dropped in 1999, he was again recalled for what would become one of France's most famous victories. He helped France to victory over the All Blacks in the semi-final of the 1999 Rugby World Cup at Twickenham. In 2000, the Colomiers reached the French championship final, but Galthié had to watch from the stands due to a knee injury. The club lost 28 to 23 to Stade Francais. He signed with the Paris club for the next season. In 2001 he captained the national side. A successful year in 2002 saw France dominate the 2002 IRB awards, Galthié was named player of the year as well as French coach Bernard Laporte being named coach of the year.
He captained France to the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Galthié secured France's bonus point against Scotland in their third game, scoring the fourth try in the game. He did not play in France's final pool game against the United States. Galthié returned returned for the next game, the semi-final which they lost to England, 7 to 24. Following their semi-final to England, France would contest for third place with the All Blacks. However, Galthié had to pull out of the third place play-off, and he subsequently announcedhis retirement from international rugby.
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