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Paris: Former France captain Abdel Benazzi understands how to restore strong relationships with Australian rugby better than most.
On his Test debut in 1990, against the Wallabies in Sydney, Benazzi was sent off for stomping on the head of Rod McCall in the first match of a torrid and infamous Test series. Five years later, he returned to the Harbour City to play club rugby in Warringah, where he made friendships that endure to this day.
Years later, as vice president of the French Rugby Federation, he worked closely with his former Warringah ballboy and now Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh to reimburse all money owed for a Wallabies pre-World Cup match fee.
Benazzi still harbours regret for his actions in that 1990 series. The former back-rower can explain that rugby was played differently and more brutally in that era, but he left Australia seriously concerned that he had damaged his reputation irreparably.
In the first Test at the Sydney Football Stadium, the Wallabies won an ill-tempered clash marred by a string of brawls. In the most famous flare-up, Wallaby-turned-Herald columnist Peter Fitzsimons was trading punches with Benazzi (among others) when he was king hit by Phillipe Sella.
Remarkably, Benazzi also stomped on Fitzsimons’s head in the third Test. He escaped sanction, but France prop Phillipe Gallart was sent off for decking Tim Gavin, who had leapt to Fitzsimons’ defence.
“At his time, rugby was dirty,” Benazzi said. “Peter FitzSimons played in France [for Brive], where our championship was very dirty
“He started to say a couple of bad things about France in the paper and that really gave us a lot of motivation. Sometimes it’s a habit [to be dirty] and it’s really not good, but back then, honestly, rugby was dirty.
“And at the time I got this red card, rugby for me was more than competition. It’s culture, it’s another country and discovering something new where you visit. So then doing that, I left a bad image in one country, which will then follow you all the time.”
By 1995, Benazzi had developed into one of the world’s best players and looked to have scored the winning try for France against eventual winners South Africa in the World Cup semi-final.
However, referee Derek Bevan chalked it off – and history was subsequently made when Nelson Mandela handing South African captain Francois Pienaar the trophy after defeating New Zealand in the final. Benazzi received a personal thank-you letter from Mandela.
Benazzi had requested three months off from his club and, through a mutual friend, was told the Warringah club would be delighted to host him. Rugby was still amateur then, but he was given an apartment to share with fellow Rats recruit Gregor Townsend, now the coach of Scotland. Benazzi arrived in Sydney still stewing on the injustice of the World Cup, and left a changed player.
“I took my plane and came to Australia, the club came and got me from the airport,” Benazzi said. “I had my first game with jet lag on a Saturday, and we finished at 5 o’clock in the morning in the discotheque.
“I was tired, of course, but right from the start I found a good atmosphere there. Everyone was happy and so was I.
Peter Fitzsimons is floored during the Wallabies-France Test in 1990.Credit: Palani Mohan
“I was asked if I was interested in joining a new province, ACT [Brumbies]. Rod McQueen asked me if I wanted to come and join him. It wasn’t possible, because I was a French international and the French union said if I stayed, that was me finished with the French team.
“But I still have a lot of friends there from Warringah, including the father of Angus Bell [former Wallaby Mark] who I will see this Saturday before the game.”
Last November, Benazzi ran for chair of World Rugby on a campaign built on attracting new markets and was narrowly beaten to the position by former Wallaby Brett Robinson. As an administrator, he remains motivated to ensure relationships with French rugby are at their best, with Australia being a strong example.
In August 2023, the Wallabies played France ahead of the World Cup in a Test organised by French rugby president Bernard Laporte and ex-RA chairman Hamish McLennan in November 2021.
Abdel Benazzi during his playing days in 1997.Credit: Reuters
Before a written contract was agreed between the FFR and RA, Laporte stood down as president after receiving a two-year suspended sentence for corruption. Subsequently, Waugh and Benazzi worked together to have the owed monies reimbursed to RA.
Both unions have also pledged to impose Test bans on any players joining rebel competition R360. Benazzi says he has sought clarification on the details of the league from those behind the concept.
“We need more information about what they R360 want to do,” Benazzi said. “Maybe we can work together. For now, we don’t have any information.
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“We look at this project as something to kill rugby, that’s the problem. I don’t want to be the judge about that. I just need to follow the project understand everything.
“We have a lot of questions we sent to them and we need a response. We will discuss [R360] at the next council of World Rugby in May.”
Benazzi is focused on the future of rugby, but remembers fondly the game’s more innocent and amateur past. A Warringah rugby club tankard takes pride of place in his office, and he reserves a word for his former sparring partner FitzSimons.
“We’ve had five or six meetings since this time, of course,” he says. “That’s the magic in rugby – we can fight on the field, but off the field, we can get on well together and become friends.”
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