A dozen or so former France rugby internationals will be pulling their boots back on this Saturday in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, for a charity fixture. Answering the call of François Trinh-Duc, the former international fly-half with distant Vietnamese roots, the gathering aims to raise funds for his charity, which helps the country’s underprivileged children and orphans.

“A bit like a France call-up… but this time, destination Vietnam“. François Trinh-Duc is not finished with rugby, not yet. The Phu Nhuan stadium in Ho Chi Minh City will be the setting for an exhibition match like no other. Alongside the former France and MHR fly-half, emblematic figures of French rugby such as Yann Delaigue, Sébastien Bruno, Olivier Brouzet, Cédric Desbrosse and Lionel Faure will make up the guest team. They will take on a “Barbarians” side made up of local players and former professionals, including Japanese internationals, a mark of international sporting solidarity.

A charity fixture that will serve to raise funds for his association, which helps the country’s underprivileged children and orphans. For the occasion, François Trinh-Duc (39 years old and 66 caps for France) will pull his boots back on, as will several French legends. An event organised by two bodies: Rugby French Flair, known for its long-standing humanitarian work around the oval ball, and Rugby Cung Nhau (meaning “Rugby all together” in Vietnamese). “It will be a chance to watch French diplomacy at work up close, in a country in the middle of an economic boom, in a fast-changing global context“, the player explains on social media.

Values of respect

It was in fact in 2022 that François Trinh-Duc, reconnecting with his grandfather’s country, founded Rugby Cung Nhau. The association’s aim is to provide essential help to orphaned and underprivileged children. The commitment goes beyond sport: “Rugby is an excuse. Through playing it, we instil in them values of respect, of kindness and of solidarity“, the former player explained to several French national media outlets, including Le Figaro.

More concretely, the funds raised will be crucial in securing the daily lives of the young beneficiaries. They make it possible to provide them with meals, water, and access to essential care (medical or dental). At present, around fifty youngsters, boys and girls, are benefiting from this mentoring project. The association’s ambition is to increase its impact significantly, with the aim of quickly supporting one to two hundred children.

“For me, it is above all an immense source of pride, says the former France 10. A way of reconnecting with my roots, and of paying tribute to my grandfather – an Indochinese labourer in 1939 – whom I did not have the chance to know“. Saturday’s match is therefore an indispensable financial lever to sustain and develop this humanitarian work in South-East Asia. The (fine) values of the oval-ball game, as they say.