Jean-Claude Skrela

Jean-Claude Skrela

Jean-Claude Skrela in 1971

Date of birth

1 October 1949 (age 74)

Place of birth

Colomiers, France

Height

6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)

Weight

199 lb (90 kg)

Notable relative(s)

David Skrela (son)
Gaëlle Skrela (daughter)

Rugby union career

Amateur team(s)
Position(s)	Flanker
Years	Team	Apps	(Points)
1968–1970 1970–1983	FC Auch Gers Stade Toulousain		()
International career
Years	Team	Apps	(Points)
1971–1978	France	46	24
Coaching career
Years	Team
1983–1992 1994–1995 1995–1999	Stade Toulousain US Colomiers France
Correct as of 2019-03-27

Jean-Claude Skrela (born 1 October 1949 in Colomiers, Haute-Garonne) 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.

Early life

Skrela was born in Colomiers near Toulouse in France. His parents were Polish refugees (his father came from the village Kobiela, his mother from the village Charbinowice). He lost his father when he was 12.

Playing career

He played for FC Auch and Stade Toulousain and made his debut for France in 1971 against South Africa. He won forty-six caps and won the Five Nations Championship in 1973 (tie victory) and in 1977 (Grand Slam). He also scored the first four-point try in a major Test match on 20 November 1971, when he charged down a kick from Australian fullback Arthur McGill.^[1]

Coaching

In 1983, he joined his team-mate Pierre Villepreux as coach of Stade Toulousain. They won three times the home championship, twice against Toulon (in 1985 and in 1989) and against Agen in 1986.^{[citation needed]}

He was appointed director of rugby at Colomiers in 1994 but left his position to replace Pierre Berbizier as French head coach after the 1995 Rugby World Cup.^{[citation needed]}

He became the first European head coach to win on his first attempt against New Zealand, but he failed to win against South Africa and Australia like his predecessor Pierre Berbizier. France suffered a few defeats against lowest level teams, like Tonga in 1999 or like Italy in 1997 (Italy was making a lot of progress at this stage), but was also able to make great come backs, like against England in 1997 or against New Zealand in their World Cup semi final at Twickenham.^[2]^[3] He also made a back-to-back Grand Slam in 1997 and 1998. He suffered a lack of results in 1999 before the World Cup.^[4]

After Jacques Fouroux, he became the second head coach to lead France to the World Cup Final, but lost to Australia. He resigned as French head coach on 16 November 1999.^[5]^[6]

International matches as Head coach

Matches (1995–1999)
Matches	Date	Opposition	Venue	Score (Fra.–Opponent)	Competition	Captain
1995
1	14 October	Italy	Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry, Buenos Aires	34–22	Latin Cup	Philippe Saint-André
2	17 October	Romania	Estadio Monumental José Fierro, Tucumán	52–8
3	21 October	Argentina	Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry, Buenos Aires	47–20
4	11 November	New Zealand	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse	22–15	Autumn internationals
5	18 November	New Zealand	Parc des Princes, Paris	12–37	Autumn internationals
1996
6	20 January	England	Parc des Princes, Paris	15–12	1996 Five Nations	Philippe Saint-André
7	3 February	Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	14–19
8	17 February	Ireland	Parc des Princes, Paris	45–10
9	16 March	Wales	Arms Park, Cardiff	15–16
10	20 April	Romania	Stade Jean Alric, Aurillac	64–12	Test match
11	22 June	Argentina	Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry, Buenos Aires	34–27	1996 tour
12	29 June	Argentina	Estadio Arquitecto Ricardo Etcheverry, Buenos Aires	34–15	1996 tour
13	25 September	Wales	Arms Park, Cardiff	40–33	Test match
14	30 November	South Africa	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	12–22	Autumn internationals	Abdelatif Benazzi
15	7 December	South Africa	Parc des Princes, Paris	12–13	Autumn internationals	Abdelatif Benazzi
1997
16	18 January	Ireland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	32–15	1997 Five Nations	Abdelatif Benazzi
17	15 February	Wales	Parc des Princes, Paris	27–22
18	1 March	England	Twickenham, London	23–20
19	15 March	Scotland	Parc des Princes, Paris	47–20
20	22 March	Italy	Stade Lesdiguières, Grenoble	32–40	1995-97 European Cup final	Fabien Pelous
21	1 June	Romania	Stadionul Dinamo, Bucharest	51–20	1997 tour	Abdelatif Benazzi
22	21 June	Australia	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	15–29
23	28 June	Australia	Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane	19–26
24	18 October	Italy	Stade Jacques Fouroux, Auch	30–19	Latin Cup	Philippe Saint-André
25	22 October	Romania	Stade Antoine Béguère, Lourdes	39–3
26	26 October	Argentina	Stade Maurice Trélut, Tarbes	32–27
27	15 November	South Africa	Stade de Gerland, Lyon	32–36	Autumn internationals
28	22 November	South Africa	Parc des Princes, Paris	10–52	Autumn internationals
1998
29	7 February	England	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	24–17	1998 Five Nations	Raphaël Ibañez
30	21 February	Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	51–16
31	7 March	Ireland	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	18–16
32	5 April	Wales	Wembley Stadium, London	51–0
33	13 June	Argentina	Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires	35–18	1998 tour
34	20 June	Argentina	Estadio José Amalfitani, Buenos Aires	37–12
35	27 June	Fiji	National Stadium, Suva	34–9
36	14 November	Argentina	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes	34–14	Autumn internationals
37	21 November	Australia	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	21–32	Autumn internationals
1999
38	6 February	Ireland	Lansdowne Road, Dublin	10–9	1999 Five Nations	Raphaël Ibañez
39	6 March	Wales	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	33–34
40	20 March	England	Twickenham, London	10–21
41	10 April	Scotland	Stade de France, Saint-Denis	22–36
42	3 June	Romania	Stade Pierre Antoine, Castres	62–8	Test match
43	12 June	Samoa	Apia Park, Apia	39–22	1999 tour
44	16 June	Tonga	Teufaiva Sport Stadium, Nuku'alofa	16–20		Fabien Galthié
45	26 June	New Zealand	Athletic Park, Wellington	7–54		Raphaël Ibañez
46	28 August	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	23–34	1999 RWC Warm-up
47	2 October	Canada	Stade de la Méditerranée, Béziers	33–20	1999 Rugby World Cup
48	8 October	Namibia	Parc Lescure, Bordeaux	47–13
49	16 October	Fiji	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse	28–19
50	24 October	Argentina	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	47–26
51	31 October	New Zealand	Twickenham, London, England	43–31
52	6 November	Australia	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff, Wales	12–35

Record by country

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Win ratio (%)	For	Against
Argentina	8	8	0	100	300	159
Australia	4	0	4	000	67	122
Canada	1	1	0	100	33	20
England	4	3	1	075	72	70
Fiji	2	2	0	100	72	28
Ireland	4	4	0	100	105	50
Italy	3	2	1	067	96	81
Namibia	1	1	0	100	47	13
New Zealand	4	2	2	050	84	137
Romania	5	5	0	100	268	51
Samoa	1	1	0	100	39	22
Scotland	4	2	2	050	134	91
South Africa	4	0	4	000	66	123
Tonga	1	0	1	000	16	20
Wales	6	3	3	050	189	139
TOTAL	52	34	18	065	1588	1126

Honours

Five Nations Championship
- Winner 1997, 1998
Rugby World Cup
- Runner-up 1999
Latin Cup [es; fr; it]
- Winner 1995, 1997
Trophée des Bicentenaires
- Runner-up 1997, 1998

Other honours

As a player

France

Five Nations Championship
- Winner 1973, 1977
- Runner-up 1976, 1978

Stade toulousain

France Rugby Union Championship
- Runner-up 1980
Challenge Yves du Manoir
- Runner-up 1971

As a coach