IRB Hall of Fame - Induction No. 24 - Serge Blanco (1958- ), Biarritz and France

Personal details

– Born: 31 August 1958 in Caracas, Venezuela.
– Family: The only son of Pedro Blanco, a Venezuelan police inspector and his French wife Odette Darrigrand.  Pedro Blanco died of a heart attack when Serge was two and he and his mother returned to the French Basque country in 1960. He is married to Liliane Drille and they have two sons Sébastien and Stephan, and a granddaughter Leni. His mother died in 1992.
– Education: Collège de ‘l'Immaculée Conception’, Biarritz
– Nickname: Pele du rugby (Pele of rugby)
– Other sports: Played football at school in Biarritz and turned down an offer from FC Nantes to become a professional player.

Professional career
 
– Started as an engineer at Dassault Aviation enterprises where he worked for eight years.
– In 1983 he joined the PR department of the Pernod-Ricard group. He worked there for nine years until 1992.
–  Businessman – founder and owner of the Serge Blanco Group which includes the Thalassothérapie (Spa) complex and the Hotel Ibaia, both in Hendaye, France.
– Owner of Château de Brindos at Anglet, which has become the official headquarters of the French Barbarians
– Partner in the “15 Serge Blanco” sportswear business – a franchise with 70 shops throughout France.

Honours and awards

– Voted the ‘Player of the Year’ by the Midi Olympique newspaper in 1982, 1983, 1989, 1990, 1991 and 1992, as well as being runner-up in 1985 and 1988. 
– The Sports Academy of the City of Paris award in 1990.
– Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.

Rugby career

– He began his playing career at St. Jean-de-Luz in 1974.
– The following season in 1975 he joined Biarritz Olympique, where he stayed for the rest of his career until retiring in 1992.
– His last top level match was for Biarritz in the 1992 French Championship final.
– He won the Challenge Cup ‘Antoine Beguerre’ with Biarritz in 1991, after reaching the final in 1979. He was also on the losing side in the Yves de Manoir Challenge Cup final against Narbonne in 1989. 
– Selected twice for the Barbarians, against Leicester in 1981 and Australia in 1984.
– He was one of the founders of the French Barbarians club in 1981
– Selected by the French Barbarians on eight occasions, in 1981, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992 and 1994, the later as a last minute replacement for Thomas Castaignéde in Sydney.
– Captained the French Barbarians to a memorable win over South Africa in 1992. 
– He began his 14-year international career in a B international against Wales B in Aberavon when he scored 19 of France’s 31 through two tries, three penalties and one conversion. He played again for France B against the Welsh in Bourg-en-Bresse in 1979 when he scored one of the five French tries.
– He played for France B in the 92-0 defeat of Spain in March 1979, scoring three of the 19 French tries.
– He played in all three French non-capped internationals of the 1979 Mediterranean Games in Split, against Tunisia, Yugoslavia and Italy. He scored two tries as France overwhelmed Tunisia 104-3, one try in the 86-6 defeat of Yugoslavia and one try and four conversions in the 38-12 victory over Italy. 
– He played in a non capped international against Canada in 1979 when he scored a try.
– In 1980, he made the first of his 93 Test appearances for France against South Africa in a 37-15 defeat. This was followed by a 15-0 loss at the hands of Romania in Bucharest, which resulted in him being moved to the wing for the next 11 Tests.
– In 1982 he returned to full back against Romania and made the position his own until the end of his long international career in 1991.
– He played for his country mostly at full back, though occasionally he appeared on the wing and had one appearance at centre in 1991 against Italy in Rome.
– His 93 caps was a world record at the time of his retirement.
– He captained France on 17 occasions, including at RWC 1991
– A consummate artisan with a devastating turn of speed and an eye for the break he became the entertainer of the French team during Jacques Fouroux’s term as national coach.
– His attacking potential was fully displayed in the famous try against Australia in the semi-finals of RWC 1987, but France went on to lose the inaugural final to New Zealand 29-9 at Eden Park.

Test summary

Career highlights

– Rugby World Cup 1987 runner-up
– RWC 1991 France Captain
– Five Nations Grand Slam winner in 1981 and 1987.
– The first player to reach 70 caps (on 1 July 1989) breaking the record held jointly by Mike Gibson (Ireland), Roland Bertranne (France), Gheorghe Dumitru (Romania) and Florica Murariu (Romania).
– He was also the first player to reach 80 and 90 caps.
– At the time of his retirement after RWC 1991 he was the most capped player in the world.
– He remains the most capped full back in world rugby, having started 81 matches in the No.15 jersey.
– He scored 233 Test points for France, comprising 38 tries (a French record), 21 penalties, six conversions and two drop goals.– He made his Five Nations Debut in 1981, when France won the Grand Slam.
– He played in every Five Nations Championship between 1981 and 1991 – missing only two matches, one in 1981 and 1990. He made a total of 42 appearances, winning 29, drawing two and losing 11.
– Played the most matches in the Five Nations until Philippe Sella and Fabien Pelous broke his record.
– He scored 14 tries in the Five Nations, a French record he shares with Philippe Sella.
– He started 11 matches with Patrice Lagisquet and Philippe Berot as the French back three combination, at the time a French record.
– Mediterranean Games gold medallist in 1979.

Administrative career in Rugby

– President of Biarritz Olympique from 1995-1998.
– President of the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR), the French professional league between 1998 and 2008
– As President of LNR he oversaw the reduction of the number of clubs in the French professional premiership to 14. This led to an upsurge in quality and in the number of spectators at matches – an average of 13,500 in 2011
– General Manager of the French Barbarians club, whose headquarters is now at Château de Brindos near Biarritz
– In 2008 he returned to Biarritz and took over as Executive President of the club.
– Vice President of the Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) since 2008.

Rugby tours & tournaments

1979 France tour of Fiji and New Zealand
1979 Mediterranean Games
1980 France tour of South Africa
1981 France tour of Australia
1984 France tour of New Zealand
1985 France tour of Argentina and Uruguay
1986 France tour of Argentina, Australia and New Zealand
1987 Rugby World Cup
1988 France tour of Argentina
1989 France tour of New Zealand
1990 France tour of Australia
1991 France Tour of USA
1991 Rugby World Cup

What he said

“There are matches that stay with you forever, that send you off the pitch with an enormous sense of satisfaction, no matter what the result.”

“My two greatest souvenirs (of RWC 1987) were the times we spent in the changing room with the Fijian players after the quarter final, drinking, singing and sharing each other’s company. It was an exceptional moment of fraternity; and then, the day after the Final against New Zealand we all came together at ‘Mon Desir’ (the French team motel at Takapuna), the All Blacks with their wives and children, we as French players, and ate and had a party together. That for me was the Rugby World Cup 1987.”

“It is a tremendous honour to have been inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame alongside these legends of French Rugby. I am certainly humbled and proud and I would like to dedicate this accolade to my teammates of both Biarritz and the French team who made this possible. Without them I would have never climbed the peaks of Rugby happiness. For me Rugby remains the greatest sport of all and moments like this serve to remind you of all the great times and the good people I lived and played with.”

What they said about him

Will Carling: “He sums up all that is brilliant about French rugby. He has the audacity to take risks no-one would. He was daring, but he had the breathtaking ability to pull it off. He turned many matches from full back … A dream to watch, a nightmare to play against.”

Ed Richardson (writer and journalist): “Blanco possesses an independence of mind and raw ability that made him such an enigma, frequently running the ball out of defence in seemingly impossible situations.”

Mick Cleary (rugby writer): “Blanco, a vice president of the French Federation and chairman of Biarritz, has his concerns for those of the modern generation who treat rugby as if they were ‘commercial travellers, clocking on and off for work’.”

Eddie Butler (rugby writer):“My favourite player?  Serge Blanco! I played against him when he was a gangling teenage star. ‘Don’t kick to that kid at full back’ we of Wales B were repeatedly told at Bourg-en-Bresse in 1979. Always obedient, we duly kicked to him and launched him on his way.”