Philippe Saint-André

Philippe Georges Saint-André (; born 19 April 1967) is a former French rugby union footballer and currently the manager of Pro D2 side Provence. He earned 69 test caps for France between 1990 and 1997. His preferred position was wing but he could also play at centre. After retiring, Saint-André has found success as a rugby coach in both England and France. He was serving as director of rugby at Toulon before being announced as the successful candidate for head coach of France from 2011 to 2015. He formally took charge of the national team on 1 December 2011, and left his post on 17 October 2015 following a 13–62 loss to New Zealand.

Playing career

Club Nicknamed Le Goret ("the piglet") for his shuffling style of running, Saint-André began his rugby career at US Romanaise before joining AS Montferrand in 1988. He played with the club until 1997, and while with the club Montferrand appeared in the 1993–94 French Championship final against Toulouse, with Toulouse winning 32–16. In 1997, Saint-André crossed the Channel to join English Premiership club Gloucester and played with them until retiring in 1999.

Country Saint-André made his test debut as a centre in the famous 12–6 loss to Romania in Auch in May 1990. That loss saw the resignation of the head coach Jacques Fouroux. He started on the wing in France's 28–19 win over Australia during their 1990 tour, which was France's first win in Australia since 1972. He became a constant player under Daniel Dubroca, featuring in all matches of the 1991 Five Nations Championship, scoring 2 tries to be joint top try scorer of the Championship. He was selected for the 1991 Rugby World Cup, playing and starting in every game. Though the 1991 World Cup was and still is France's worst result in the World Cup haven been knocked out in the Quarter-final by England.

He continued to be a constant starter in the French team, even under newly appointed coach Pierre Berbizier. Saint-André started in France's next 17 games, which included the 1993 Five Nations Championship winning campaign. During the 1994 Five Nations Championship, he replaced Olivier Roumat as captain for the final match of the Championship against Scotland, winning 20-12 and scoring a try. He remained as captain for the 1994 New Zealand test series, winning 2–0, which included France's first win over New Zealand since 1986 and their first win in New Zealand since 1979. Towards the end of the second test at Eden Park in Auckland, France were trailing the All Blacks 20–16 and were pinned back deep in their own end by a tactical kick. Saint-André fielded the kick and began a counter-attack that ended in a spectacular try to fullback Jean-Luc Sadourny, securing a memorable 23–20 victory. After the match, Saint-André called the play that led to the winning try "a counter-attack from the end of the world", and it would be permanently enshrined in rugby lore as the "try from the end of the world". He ended his career as France's second-highest try scorer with 32 tries, a position he held until Vincent Clerc took it in 2012 against Argentina.

Saint-André has a younger brother, Raphaël,

At Sale and Toulon, 2004-2011 Two months later, Saint-André again went across the Channel to sign a three-year contract with the Sale Sharks. Unlike at Gloucester, his role as director would be less hands-on and focus more on recruitment and development. Almost exactly a year later, after finishing on top of the table during the regular Premiership season, Sale won their first English play-off championship with a 45–20 victory over Leicester at Twickenham. Saint-André was given the opportunity to coach France after the 2007 Rugby World Cup, but turned it down when the French Rugby Federation rejected his request to have Brive coach Laurent Seigne join his staff. and so the job was given to Marc Lièvremont. In the 2007–08 season, Sale made it all the way to the semi-final of the European Challenge Cup, when they lost to Bath 36–14. In December 2008, Saint-André confirmed that he would be standing down as director of rugby at Sale when the season was over. He was succeeded in the role of director by Sale's then head coach Kingsley Jones. In his first season in charge, Toulon finished second in the table after the regular season, however losing to Clermont 29–35 after extra time in the semi-final. Toulon also made it to the final of the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup, but lost to Cardiff Blues 28–21 at the Stade Vélodrome. In his second and final season in charge, Toulon found themselves back down the table in 8th, with only 15 wins. However, they were only 2 points behind the top 6, who were on 72 points. Toulon made it to the semi-final of the Heineken Cup that season, but lost to Perpignan 29–25.

In August 2011 it was announced that Saint-André would replace Lièvremont as head coach of France after the 2011 Rugby World Cup, thus finishing his tenure with Toulon. Saint-André was present at the club while some big names were signed, the likes of Jonny Wilkinson, Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, Felipe Contepomi and Pierre Mignoni.

Coach of France, 2012-2015 Although the French reached the final of the 2011 World Cup, their campaign would also be remembered for the disharmony that marred relations between Marc Lièvremont and the players. In light of this, Saint-André's immediate priorities were to restore clear and open communication between players and management, and to restore pride to the image of French rugby:

"The players must also accept that the France team is the window to French rugby and the image and message we send is important. Many youngsters take up the game because of what they see in the team and inspirational players like Thierry Dusautoir, and we must make sure this image is always good. I have spoken to all the players, individually, about these things".

He also tried to persuade the French Rugby Federation to fall in line with the Home Unions and allow France a full two weeks to prepare for the Six Nations. However, after a draw against Ireland and then losses to England and Wales, France finished the 2012 Six Nations Championship in fourth place. In June 2012, France drew their test series with Argentina, 1–all, haven lost the first test 23–20, but won the second test 49–10, which was France's first win in Argentina since 1998. During their 2012 November campaign, France won all 3 tests, which included a 33–6 win over Australia, which ended Australia's 7-year long winning streak against France.

In the 2013 Six Nations Championship, France lost their first three games, 18–23 against Italy, 6–16 against Wales and 13–23 against England. The team managed a draw, 13–13, against Ireland in Dublin and a last day 23–16 win against Scotland to finish the championship in last place. This was the first time that France picked up the wooden spoon in the Six Nations, but the last time they had finished last was during the 1999 Five Nations Championship. France later went on to lose 3–0 to New Zealand, during their 2013 tour, which included a 30–0 loss, the first time France has failed to score any points against New Zealand. France did however beat Super Rugby franchise Blues, 38–15, but it was not an official test match. France again lost to New Zealand, 26–19, during their 2013 November campaign, where during that campaign, they only picked up a single victory, coming against Tonga 38–18.

During the 2014 Six Nations Championship, France picked up their first win over England since 2011, beating them 26–24 in the opening week of the Championship. They additionally beat Italy 30–10 and Scotland 19–17. Despite their 27–6 loss to Wales, France was still in contention of winning the title going into the final week. However, due to England's 52–11 win over Italy in the first game of the final day, France needed to beat Ireland by more than 70 points to secure the title, but Ireland won the game 20–22 to claim the title. In June of that year, France lost their second consecutive test series, losing to Australia 3–0 during their 2014 Tour. They lost the first test 50–23, before narrowly losing the second test 6–0, which was the first time France had failed to score any points against the Wallabies. The third test was a 39–13 win to Australia. France did gain some revenge during their 2014 November campaign, when they beat Australia 29–26, though they later went on to lose to Argentina for the first time on home soil since 2007, 18–13.

Philippe Saint-André led France to fourth in the 2015 Six Nations Championship for the second consecutive year. Their only wins came against Scotland 15–8, and Italy 29–0. The Italian win, was France's first win over Italy in Italy, since 2009. Like in 2014, France were still in contention ton win the title, but they needed Wales and Ireland to lose their respective matches and for France to beat England. However, none of these scenarios happened, which meant France finished fourth. On 31 May 2015, it was announced that Philippe Saint-André would be replaced by Guy Novès after the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

During France's Rugby World Cup Warm-ups, France earned a narrow 25–20 victory over England in Paris, though had lost the return fixture in London 19–14. Their final Warm-up saw France beat Scotland 19–16. During the 2015 Rugby World Cup, it was reported that the players launched a "mutiny" against Philippe Saint-André following France's 24–9 loss to Ireland. It was reported that the players coached themselves in the lead up to their quarter-final clash with New Zealand, which saw the end to Saint-André's tenure with France, following a record defeat of 62–13 in Cardiff.

International matches as head coach Note: World Rankings column shows the World Ranking Wales was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches.

Record by country

Honours Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy Winners: 2012, 2014, 2015 Trophée des Bicentenaires Winners: 2012, Nov 2014

Other honors Sale Sharks Guinness Premiership Winners: 2006 European Challenge Cup Winners: 2005

Toulon European Challenge Cup Runners-up: 2010

Montpellier European Challenge Cup Winners: 2021 Top 14 Winners: 2022