Jacques Mombet, who had notably been the doctor of the XV of France during the 1987 World Cup in New Zealand, died on Monday January 23 at the age of 93. Father of Christophe Mombet, director of the Racing 92 training center, he had also been chairman of the medical commission of the FFR for a long time.
Last Monday, January 30, took place in the small village of Lacapelle-Cabanac (Lot-et-Garonne) the funeral of Jacques Mombet, born precisely in Lacapelle-Cabanac and died seven days earlier (January 23) at the age 93 years old. If at the local level, this immense rugby lover was particularly known for having been for many years one of the leaders of the club of the canton of Puy-l’Évêque (RCP), as our colleagues from La Dépèche remind us. in their edition of the day this Thursday, on the national level, and even internationally, Jacques Mombet remained for the French supporters the doctor of the Blues during the 1987 World Cup in New Zealand which had seen the All Blacks win the trophy at home in having largely (29-9) in the final of the XV of France.
Before joining the medical staff of Les Bleus in 1975 and staying there until 1995, Mombet, son of Christophe Mombet, director of the Racing 92 training center but also president of the Racing Club de France rugby association, had also been the doctor for the French youth teams, but also for the France B team and the rugby 7s team. in a book by Pierre Ballester, where like the author, he did not hesitate to denounce the increasingly common practice of doping, to hear it, in rugby.
In 2015, Mombet denounced amphetamine doping among the Blues
Thus, if Mombet, who later became an active member of the committee of experts of the French Anti-Doping Agency, had assured that he had never personally administered it to the players he had seen pass through his hands, he did not had not hidden, however, having seen amphetamines circulating within the France team, in the same way as he had then witnessed the rise of corticosteroids. “It has always existed in rugby and elsewhere, wrote Mombet at the time. By the 1970s, whole teams were taking it. “They each had their pill in front of their plate during the pre-match meal. The players were free to take it or not, ”continued the specialist about development known to all, according to him. “These practices were far from being secret, everyone had known that for a long time. Afterwards, the players were free to take it or not. »
