Lucien Mias Obituary News: French Rugby Union Player Dies At Age 93
The mayor of Mazamet, the town where he had a long playing career, confirmed that Lucien Mias, the captain of the French national rugby team who led them to their first-ever Five Nations championship victory in 1959, passed away on Sunday night at the age of 93. Mias was born on September 28, 1930, in the small village of Saint-Germain-de-Calberte, about 80 kilometres north-west of Nimes, Mias began his rugby career with Narbonne before moving to Mazamet.
After his rugby career, Mias became a trailblazer in the medical field, adopting and defending a “humanist” approach in his specialty, geriatrics. “Rugby mourns a great man who left his mark on our history,” wrote French Rugby Federation (FFR) president Florian Grill on X. Lucien Mias was selected 29 times for the French national team, including six as captain. Mias, also known as ‘Doctor Pack’ due to his professional role as a general practitioner, began his international career in 1951.
Mias, a 1.89-metre lock forward, captained Les Bleus on their historic winning tour of South Africa in 1958 and retired at the age of 29 after leading them to victory in the Five Nations the following year. He also helped France to their first wins at Twickenham in 1951 and Cardiff seven years later, as well as a monumental first-ever victory over the All Blacks in 1954, a hard-fought 3-0 win at the Stade Colombes in Paris. With 17 caps under his belt, Mias’s career was then put on hold but he returned in 1957, 20 kilos lighter and with a wiser head, winning another 12 caps in the next two years.
In addition to his athletic prowess, everyone held Lucien Mias in high regard, according to a statement from the FFR. Although Mazamet failed to secure the Brennus Shield, he did advance to the quarterfinals of the French championship in 1958 before succumbing to Lourdes 25-8.In the 1951 Five Nations, Mias made his international debut against Scotland. From that point forward, until 1954, when France shared the title with England and Wales, he appeared sixteen times.
