Robert Paparemborde, born 5 July 1948 in Pau, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, died 19 April 2001 aged 52, was a rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 player who was capped 55 times, 5 as captain, for the French national side

France national rugby union team

The France national rugby union team represents France in rugby union. They compete annually against England, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales in the Six Nations Championship. They have won the championship outright sixteen times, shared it a further eight times, and have completed nine grand slams...

.

He was regarded as one of the greatest prop-forwards and was a member of the French team that won the Five Nations Championship

Six Nations Championship

The Six Nations Championship is an annual international rugby union competition involving six European sides: England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales....

 in 1977 (Grand Slam

Grand Slam (Rugby Union)

In rugby union, a Grand Slam occurs when one team in the Six Nations Championship manages to beat all the others during one year's competition...

), 1981(Grand Slam), and 1983.

He also played for a World XV

World XV

A World XV is a rugby union team, typically composed of invited players from various countries. Various World XVs have been arranged from time to time, often to take part in celebration and testimonial games, usually against national teams; recent World XV games have generally not been considered...

on 9 August 1980 against in Buenos Aires, losing 36-22.