Date of birth | 8 December 1977 | ||||||||||||
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Place of birth | Valence, Drôme, France | ||||||||||||
Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 113 kg (249 lb; 17 st 11 lb) | ||||||||||||
Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||
Position | Number eight, Lock, Flanker | ||||||||||||
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Professional / senior clubs | |||
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Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
2000–2004 2004–2009 2009–2012 2012-2014 |
Bourgoin Sale Racing Métro Lyon |
45 101 57 18 |
(35) (60) (30) (15) |
National team(s) | |||
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Years | Club / team | Caps | (points) |
2000–2011 | France | 62 | (30) |
Sébastien Chabal, born 8 December 1977 in Valence, Drôme, is a retired French rugby union player. He played number eight and lock professionally for the French team Bourgoin (1998–2004); the English team Sale Sharks (2004–2009); the French team Racing Métro 92 Paris (2009–February 2012); and the French national side. He earned his first international cap on 4 March 2000 against Scotland. He has represented France in 62 games scoring six tries; two against Italy in the 2007 Six Nations Championship; a match-winning try against England in the run-up to the 2007 Rugby World Cup; two against Namibia in the 2007 Rugby World Cup; and one against Italy in the 2009 Six Nations Championship. He was one of the most popular sportsmen in France, so much that local journalists write and talk about Chabalmania.
Chabal played rugby union professionally for 16 years and won the English Premiership with Sale, and the 2007 Six Nations Championship with France. He has also finished at fourth place at the 2007 Rugby World Cup. He is known for his full beard, long hair and ferocious tackling, leading the French rugby fans to nickname him l'Homme des Cavernes— the Caveman. With this look, he has a number of lucrative commercial contracts which has made him the highest paid French rugby union player since 2007.