Louis Picamoles

Louis Picamoles
Date of birth (1986-02-05) 5 February 1986
Place of birth Paris, France
Height 1.92 m (6 ft 3 1⁄2 in)
Weight 116 kg (256 lb; 18 st 4 lb)[1]
Rugby union career
Current status
Position(s) Back row
Playing career
Position Number eight, Flanker
Professional / senior clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2004–2009
2009–2016
2016–		 Montpellier
Toulouse
Northampton Saints		 64
150
9		 (55)
(110)
(10)
correct as of 25 August 2015.
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
2008– France 57 (35)
correct as of 26 November 2016.

Louis Picamoles (born 5 February 1986) is a French rugby union player who plays for Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership. Picamoles's preferred position is at number eight, which is his regular position.

Club career

Picamoles began his club career at Montpellier in 1999 and played for the club for ten years, in which he picked up 64 appearances. His first professional match was on 2 October 2004 against Auch during the 2004–05 Top 16 season. His last match was 16 May 2009, during the 2008–09 Top 14 season against Toulon. For the 2009–10 Top 14 season, he signed with Toulouse, where in his debut season, he was part of the team that made it all the way to the semi-finals, losing to eventual runners-up Perpignan 19–6. In that season, his debut with Toulouse was a narrow 16–17 win against Montauban. On 2 November 2015, Picamoles marks his move to England for the first time to join Northampton Saints in the Aviva Premiership on a three-year deal from the 2016-17 season and is already making an impression at the Midlands side, receiving three man of the match awards in the first three home games he featured in.[2][3]

International career

Picamoles has been a familiar face in the French national squad since making his debut in 2008 - which was a 26–21 victory over Ireland during the 2008 Six Nations Championship. It was during the 2008 end-of-year rugby union internationals that Picamoles scored his first try, scoring against the Pacific Islanders on 15 November. Though being part of the 2010 Six Nations Championship squad, Picamoles did not appear once in any of the five tests, in what turned out to be a Grand Slam campaign for Les Blues.[4][5] He was part of the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad that came runners-up to the All Blacks, only playing in three tests during the campaign. After being dropped by Philippe Saint-André for most of the 2014 calendar year, a return to form with strong performances for Toulouse, saw Louis recalled to the French squad for the 2015 Six Nations Championship.

International tries

# Date Venue Opponent Result
(FRA-Opp.) 		Competition
1. 15 November 2008 Stade Bonal, Sochaux, France Pacific Islanders
42-17
Test Match
2. 16 June 2012 Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Cordoba, Argentina  Argentina
20-23
Test Match
3. 10 November 2012 Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France  Australia
33-10
Test Match
4. 3 February 2013 Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy  Italy
18-23
Six Nations Championship
5. 9 March 2013 Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland  Ireland
13-13
Six Nations Championship
6. 9 February 2014 Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France  Italy
30-10
Six Nations Championship
7. 17 October 2015 Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales  New Zealand
13-62
2015 Rugby World Cup

Playing style

Picamoles impact as a ball carrier has been ascribed to a low centre of gravity and powerful legs.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Stade Toulousain". stadetoulousain.fr.
  2. ↑ "Northampton Saints sign France number eight Louis Picamoles from Toulouse". Sky Sports. 2 November 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  3. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMHvvGeAHQx/?taken-by=officialnorthamptonsaints
  4. ↑ "BBC Sport - Rugby Union - Bastareaud recalled for France's Six Nations opener". bbc.co.uk.
  5. ↑ Huw Richards. "Resolute France seal Grand Slam". ESPN scrum.
  6. ↑ http://www.irishexaminer.com/rwc15/rwc15-analysis/louis-picamoles-tossed-me-aside-as-nonchalantly-as-a-parisian-flicking-a-gitanes-butt-onto-the-champs-delysees-358327.html


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