He was a giant.
He flew into touch, ran to the four corners of the field.
Its imposing size (1.99 m; 110 kg), its impressive felling, already foreshadowed the profiles of future third line of the modern era.
He also acted as a glue, a bond between men, whose enthusiasm and kindness challenged and brought together bodies and spirits around him, on and off the lawns.
Jean-Pierre Bastiat, the former international of Dax (32 caps) died at 71 this Wednesday following a stroke.
He was one of the three Jean-Pierre of this XV of France author of the second Grand Slam in history in 1977, with the same fifteen players.
Third center line, next to Jean-Pierre Rives, and not far from opener Jean-Pierre Romeu.
And just behind him, Jacques Fouroux, scrum half and captain, "little Napoleon" of 1.63 m.
The contrast made people smile.
Bastiat would also succeed Fouroux, armband on his arm five times, before leaving him to Rives on his retirement in 1978, a sprained knee having prematurely ended his career.
He then became leader of the US Dax, which he chaired from 1990 to 1995.
We are deeply saddened to learn of the death, at the age of 71, of Jean-Pierre Bastiat, emblematic captain of French rugby.
French rugby is in mourning, the FFR offers its condolences to his family and loved ones.
https://t.co/hq8Ejw8AyR
- France Rugby (@FranceRugby) February 3, 2021
A native of Pouillon (Landes), insurer, Jean-Pierre Bastiat was also involved in politics by standing in the 1989 European elections on the CPNT list (Hunting, fishing, nature and tradition) and in the municipal elections in Dax in 2014 on a PS list.
In addition to the memory of a warm, good-natured man, with overflowing optimism according to all those who knew him, there will remain for fans of this Seventies rugby the images of this great echalas, former basketball player and footballer, passing goals of nearly fifty meters.
And above all, this open field race after a magnificent collective movement, and the plunge behind the goal line on March 19, 1977 during the Five Nations Tournament, on the greasy lawn of Lansdowne Road in Dublin, giving the victory to the Blues against Ireland (15-6) and the Grand Slam at the same time.
The epic of 1977