- Jean-Claude Skrela
Jean-Claude Skrela (born
October 1 1949 inColomiers ) is a former coach of the French national rugby union team. His son,David Skrela , is a French rugby union player and his daughter, Gaëlle Skrela, is a professional basketball player.The son of Polish refugees, he played rugby union for Toulouse. He played 46 times for France as a back row forward, culminating in a Five Nations Grand Slam in 1977.
Skrela took over as national team coach from
Pierre Berbizier in 1995. Despite France's historic 43-31 victory over the All Blacks in their World Cup semi-final at Twickenham, Skrela was heavily criticised for his team's performance in the early part of the 1999 World Cup. The French went on to lose the 6 November final to 35-12 Australia - the largest margin of any of the four tournaments to date.He went on to coach the national side to their first-ever back-to-back Grand Slams in 1997 and 1998, before France slumped to the wooden spoon in 1999.
He resigned and was replaced by
Bernard Laporte at the end of 1999.External links
* [http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/rugby_union/523219.stm Skrela steps down as French coach (from the BBC)]
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