Pioneer: French fly-half Frederic Michalak

FREDDIE MICHALAK has confirmed he is retiring at the end of the season so expect some stories about the great under achiever in French rugby, the incredibly gifted half-back who did not make best use of his talent, the flaky ten who crumbled under pressure, the leader of the golden generation who ultimately fell short.
Some of that is true. England ruthlessly targeted him in the wet of the 2003 World Cup semifinal in Sydney although he wasn’t the first and won’t be the last diminutive fly-half to struggle in such circumstances. And h...