Rugby: André Boniface represented “champagne rugby as we like it”, greets his former teammate Jean Gachassin

Former center André Boniface, who died Monday at the age of 89, was “the standard bearer of attacking rugby”, greeted his former teammate in the French team Jean Gachassin to AFP, “very touched » by the disappearance of the one he considered “like a brother”. “He was a great man and a great player. We were very close,” reacted Gachassin. “I was a bit like the one who replaced his brother,” Guy Boniface, who died prematurely in a road accident on January 1, 1968.

The two “Boni”, with their thirst for movement, were the incarnation of “French flair”, an expression from England to salute the creativity of the “French game”. Four times winner of the Five Nations Tournament (1954, 1955, 1959 and 1962) with the Blues, André “represented a certain rugby”, according to Gachassin, former fly-half. “Champagne rugby, as we love it, and which is being lost today.”

“He was a pioneer of the beautiful game. A game of passing, avoiding and shifting,” adds the former Lourdes player, who later became president of the French Tennis Federation. The eldest Boniface, crowned French champion in 1963 with Mont-de-Marsan, was also known for his outspokenness, which earned him an upset history with the French team.

“He said a little too much what he thought of certain leaders. It was in his nature,” says Gachassin. “He didn’t like them and it was mutual.” After several turbulent periods, the Boniface brothers were permanently excluded from the selection in March 1966 following a defeat against Wales (9-8) which also ended Gachassin's international career.

“They (the leaders of the Federation) put him in the closet and I was supportive,” testifies the latter, whose bell pass for his friend André had been intercepted by a Welshman during this match. “I also yelled at him sometimes,” he continues. “I told him to respect the function if not respect the man, but he was stronger than him.”