Nineteen minutes into his international debut for France on February 27, 1971, the 21-year-old centre Roland Bertranne raced on to a kick by the fly half Jean-Louis Bérot to score his side’s first try in the Five Nations match against England at Twickenham. Then, in what was indisputably a player-of-the-match performance, he sold a perfect dummy late in the game to flat-foot the England defence, allowing Jack Cantoni to cap a typically free-flowing French move and touch down for the try that would level the match 14-14.
Today, a television match official might look long and hard at Bertranne’s try and specifically the grounding of the ball but, nevertheless, it demonstrated one of the player’s great attributes: his exceptional speed. It was another less-showy quality, however, that inspired the French rugby journalist Roger Couderc to bestow on Bertranne a nickname that stuck for the rest of his career: le petit taureau furieux (the furious little bull). Despite standing only 5ft 7in, Bertranne was unflinching in the tackle and said the bigger the player the greater the satisfaction in putting them down.
His courage earned him the respect of his peers. Jean-Pierre Rives, Bertranne’s international team-mate and later captain, described Bertranne as a back “with the mentality of a forward”, while another of his colleagues, Jacques Fouroux, who went on to coach the national team, said, “Give me 15 Bertrannes and I’ll beat all the teams in the world.”
Bertranne scored 17 tries for France in a career that spanned ten years and 69 caps — a French record until it was broken by Serge Blanco in 1989 — some of which were won as a winger. He also played 46 consecutive Test matches between 1973 and 1979, which remains a French record, a streak that began with a narrow victory over the mighty All Blacks, in which he scored his side’s second try.
In that time, he was part of the team that won the Grand Slam and Five Nations championship in 1977, when not only were the same 15 players selected for every game, but France did not concede a single try. It was one of the most successful years for the French national team, losing only one match in nine, a 15-3 reverse in the second Test against the All Blacks in Paris. In 1981, his final international season, Bertranne was part of another Grand Slam and Five Nations title-winning side. He bowed out later that year after defeat to the All Blacks in Paris.
The same year he made his international debut, Bertranne was selected as the youngest member of the President’s Overseas XV, assembled to mark the Rugby Football Union’s centenary, which would culminate in a one-off Test match against England at Twickenham. Although he didn’t play in the match, Bertranne did feature in the warm-up games against regional sides.
In the domestic game, Bertranne played all but one season for his local team, Stade Bagnérais, in the Hautes-Pyrénées. Despite being a relative minnow in French rugby, Bertranne captained the club to two championship finals, in 1979 and 1981. They were defeated in both, the first time by Narbonne who had in their three-quarter line François Sangalli, with whom Bertranne formed an unbroken partnership in midfield for the French national team between 1975 and 1977. Bertranne retired from the sport in 1983 but his association with Stade Bagnérais remained and he became the club’s co-president and later honorary president. He also served on the French selection committee.
Roland Bertranne was born in Ibos, a village in the Hautes-Pyrénées, in 1949, the second of three children to Joseph, who worked for the French railways, and Françoise, a seamstress. He had two sisters, Sylviane and Colette. He grew up in a house opposite the local rugby pitch but at the time Ibos didn’t have a junior side. With a few like-minded friends, Bertranne helped to establish an Ibos academy in 1966, of which he was captain.
Later, in a match at his school, Lycée Victor-Duruy in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, his potential was spotted by the former French international Jean Gachassin, who had returned to his home-town club, Stade Bagnérais, from FC Lourdes. Like Bertranne, Gachassin was of diminutive stature — he had the nickname Peter Pan — and played in the three quarters. He persuaded Bertranne to join him at Stade Bagnérais and became his mentor. “He taught me how to play rugby,” Bertranne said, which largely consisted of ensuring Gachassin got as much of the ball as possible.
Bertranne, left, with Guy Laporte
GEORGES BENDRIHEM/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
In 1972 Bertranne was encouraged by Christian Carrère, his first international captain, to sign for Toulon, one of the powerhouses of French rugby. Married the previous year, Bertranne said he and his wife, Martine (née Murgier), were in need of “a bit of fresh air and some sunshine” so they packed their bags for the French Riviera, later calling it “a vacation”.
Toulon’s style of rugby didn’t suit him. He complained that there was an overreliance on the forwards, particularly the front row, to the exclusion of the three quarters. Missing the family environment of his local club, Bertranne returned to Stade Bagnérais after only one season. He and Martine established a sports shop, Bertranne Sports, in the local town, which remained in the family until its sale in 2019. Bertranne and Martine had two children, Franck and Davina.
Motorsport was Bertranne’s second great love and a few months into his retirement from rugby he took part in the Paris-Dakar Rally as co-driver to Georges Debussy, great-nephew of the composer Claude and a former French off-road champion. Bertranne would go on to compete in several prestigious races, notably the 24 Heures de Mauléon, but for now he was inexperienced and gave Debussy an incorrect start time for the race, an error that led to the pair starting last of the 188 entrants. They were able to make up significant ground in the first week and with Bertranne at the wheel of their weary vehicle for the final few kilometres, they eventually finished sixth.
In August 2022 the stadium in Ibos was renamed in Bertranne’s honour in a ceremony attended by many of his former team-mates. Today, players run out on to the pitch at the Stade de rugby Roland Bertranne. It is a fitting tribute to one of the great unsung heroes of French rugby, of whom Jean-Michel Aguirre, his team-mate at both club and national level, said, “It was better to play with him than against him. He did all the work.”
Roland Bertranne, rugby player, was born on December 6, 1949. He died from complications brought on by Alzheimer’s on October 2, 2025, aged 75