Jean-Pierre Rives

JeanPierre Rives born 31 December 1952 is a French former rugby union player and visual artist A cult figure in France according to the BBC he came to epitomise the teams spirit and ultracommitted gutsandglory style of play He won 59 caps for France 34 of them as captain and was inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame After retiring from the sport Rives concentrated entirely on his art He is both a painter and a sculptor and exhibiting regularly at prominent public venues all over the globe Rives was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit by the government of France JeanPierre Rives was born on 31 December 1952 in SaintSimon a suburb of Toulouse in the HauteGaronne Occitan departement of southwestern France He grew up with his brother Philippe in the family of Jo and Lydia Rives JeanPierre started drawing and painting in primary school a passion that would stay with him throughout his whole life His father was a pilot and an avid tennis player and he encouraged his son who excelled in athletics at early age to pursue tennis but it was rugby that would become JeanPierre Rives ultimate choice Rives began playing rugby for his hometown club in 1974 Even though he was considered to be too small to play as flanker standing at 5 ft 10 in 178 cm he decisively proved the doubters wrong and it was not long until his unmistakable talent gained attention from the national selectors Rives made his France debut against England in 1975 at the age of 22 marking the start of an international career that would take him to the very top in terms of both personal and team achievements JeanPierre Rives was instrumental in helping France to the Grand Slam in 1977 and was installed as French captain during the 1978 season He played for TOEC Beaumont and Stade Toulousain then in 1981 left Toulouse to join Racing Club de France During Rives rugby career the essence of his game was to be always close to the ball in the thick of the action He was dubbed the Casque dor French for Golden helmet due to his long and wild blond hair Roger Couderc the iconic voice of rugby on French TV of the time came up with this nickname that stuck with Rives throughout his entire career It was his hair along with his bravery which also brought him the nickname Asterix Source Article JeanPierre Rives from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30