Following the invitation of the CNOSF (French National Olympic Commitee), I attended the evening of the “100 days before the Olympics”. You will find the photos here: http://londres.franceolympique.com/londres/

5 May - Following the announcement of my commitment to the proposed new stadium in Thiais-Orly, I spent several hours with young rugby players.

http://94.citoyens.com/2012/rugby-serge-betsen-sengage-pour-thiais-orly 0.26-03-2012. html

http://www.thiais-orly-rugby.fr/2012/05/08/a-orly-serge-betsen-veut-faire-grandir-le-rugby/

May 8 – I participated in the cooking competition of the Association Wooden Spoon, an association british dedicated to helping underprivileged children in partnership with the community rugby. The contest “Scrum Dine With Me,” or their version of “Come Dine With Me”. I was alongside Phil Vickery, Luke Narraway and John Bentley. Phil won, just as he did last year, but I also had good reviews. It was a very nice evening!

The Testimonial Game project – June 6 in Biarritz  The Testimonial Game project is progressing well. Here is some information, but if you want to know more, visit the testimonial website on www.jubilesergebetsen.com

 As I announced on 10 March 2012, I am ending my career as a professional rugby player. I would now like to devote myself to my charity, the Serge Betsen Academy, to share the values ​​of my sport with all, but especially disadvantaged children in Africa and elsewhere.

This work I have put together with my volunteers now enables the charity to look after 275 children and 75 others very soon. This is one of the reasons for wanting to organise a fundraising match  in 2012: to raise awareness about the work of the charity for the past 7 years.

The site of the Biarritz Olympique to purchase tickets:  http://www.ticketpass.fr/biarritz-olympique-billetterie/

10 March - on the eve of the 6 Nations game France v England, I made an official announcement that I am retiring from Rugby.  I now would like to devote my time to the charity I created in 2004, Serge Betsen Academy, to share the values ​​of my sport with all, especially with disadvantaged children in Africa and other countries. You can find more detailed information on our website: http://www.sergebetsenacademy.org

Our work enables the charity and its volunteers to look after 275 children and another 75 very soon. This is one of the reasons that motivated me to organise a fundraising game as part of a testimonial event in 2012, to promote the actions of the charity has done for the past 7 years. This game will take place on 06 June 2012 in Biarritz, France, along with many more exciting activities.

To register your interest, receive updates or support as a sponsor, please visit: http://www.jubilesergebetsen.com/

11 March – 6 Nations Tournament – France v England: 22 – 24 ! what a disappointment for me.

16 March - I took part in the National Sleep Day in Paris.   http://www.institut-sommeil-vigilance.org/insv-pages/journee-du-sommeil.php

17 March - 6 Nations Tournament – Wales v France 16 – 9.  Well done to Walles for the Grand Slam!

20 March - I’m going to Hong Kong for Hong Kong Sevens!

http://msalecs.com/blog/?p=110

http://www.hksevens.com/eng/news/838.php

with Anthony Mezaache and Franck Petitjean

02 February - I ran a workshop at HEC (High School of Commerce) in Paris, and met some great people who are all willing to support my charity, Serge Betsen Academy.

I also paid a visit to the Diderot College high school to meet the students of the rugby section.

04 February - 6 Nations Tournament – France v Italy: 30-12 !

05-06 February - I attended the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony. http://www.laureus.com/awards

07 February - I attended the ICAP ceremony (from their Charity Day).

11 February - 6 Nations Tournament – France v Ireland: The game was cancelled because of the cold wheather!

15 February - I met English legend David Duckham at a rugby dinner at Coventry Rugby Club. He played for Barbarians during the game against All Blacks 1973 where Barbarians scored a fantastic try! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeRU15B_sZc

19 February - Training session in Guilford.

26 February - 6 Nations Tournament – Scotland v France : 17 – 23 ! Here are some photos taken in Edinburgh:

This dinner was won at auction during my testimonial dinner in Feb ’11.

11 January - At 200 days till the Olympic Games, an evening at the French embassy with the French Sports Minister, David Douillet. With, among other champions:

Nantenin Keita (Nanto) – 200m handisport
Florent Malouda – Chelsea
Arsene Wenger – Arsenal
Stephane Caron – Swimming
Christophe Lemaitre – Athletism 100/200m
Gladys Epangue – Taekwondo
Gaëtane Thiney – Football

With Nantenin Keita (Nanto)

with Gladys Epangue and Christophe Lemaitre

18 January – at Simon Shaw’s testimonial dinner, it’s great to see him again!

With Simon Shaw

with John Hart and Nic Berry

21 January - I had a visit from two of my team mates: Dave Walder (London Wasps) who is over from Japan, and Stuart Legg (Biarritz 2002).
Great to see them both!

with Stuart Legg and Dave Walder

Some photos of the game – Northern Hemisphere v Southern Hemisphere

5 December – Evening “1 Maillot pour la Vie”

I went to Nantes to attend a gala evening with “1 Maillot pour la Vie” (“A shirt for life”). Here with the charity president, Sam Essediri, and Mathias, one of the children they are helping.
http://www.unmaillotpourlavie.com

On 7, I took part  in the ICAP Charity Day, when traders give a full day of business profits to charities.

From December 10 to 15, I was delighted to go to La Plagne to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Etoiles du Sport. This idea to gather all French sport personalities in one place was a great idea, by BenoitEycken and Sebastien Foucras. To play sports and share experiences among athletes, past and future talent, is what makes me want to always share my passion for sport. BRAVO for this great initiative!

 **************************************************

Season’s greetings

With my best wishes for a great Christmas

And every happiness in 2012!

L-R: Odile & Olivier Mussat, Graham Wynde, Charles Cogan, John & Alan O'Connell

We left London for Yaoude at the beginning of November, and my fellow travellers are the people who bought the journey at my testimonial dinner on 25 February.

When we arrived it was still the rainy season. A flood paralyzed the city, causing monstrous traffic jams … But we kept smiling.

Where do I begin, all the sounds and images of this journey are still dancing in my head. Rather than make you read paragraphs, here are a few photos of our trip …

After spending a few days in Bangangté, we go back to Yaounde, we visit one of the centers of the Serge Betsen Academy. Again, this is a very different world, I am proud of the work our volunteers are doing there.

Help for Heroes training – 28 November – 02 December

Back in London I started training to participate in a charity game to benefit Help for Heroes. I spend the whole week before the game with them.

I was very pleased to meet Prime Minister David Cameron before he left for Paris. Congratulations on his support of Help for Heroes, this non-political cause that helps war-wounded in all aspects, which enables their rehabilitation into normal life. I am impressed with the work that this charity has done in so little time!

On 26, Barbarians against Australia at Twickenham. Good luck to Sylvain Marconnet, the only French representative at this game! A thought also for Danny Cipriani, my former team-mate to London Wasps.

On 27, I attended the ATP World Tour final at O2, to support Mr Tsonga against Mr. Federer!

November 30 - If you followed the banter with Kyran Bracken during the ~Rugby World Cup, you know Kyran lost his bet as France went to the finals. His forfeit was to cook for me and serve my meal at the Brasserie St Jacques on St James Street in London. I will post pictures when I receive some.

To start this month of October, I took my friend Raphael Ibanez to a netball tournament in Auckland.

12 October – France reunited

It seemed to me that England were over-confident from the start on Saturday. They seemed to think they were already in the semi-final. They felt there big challenge was to come. They were not ready for the game that the French brought with them last Saturday at Eden Park.

The French arrived on the pitch with a warrior spirit, immense passion …and huge aggression!

That is what you need at this stage of a major tournament. Do or die not wait and see.

But for all that the French were brilliantly self controlled. At set piece we saw France really well organised, playing with confidence, accuracy, speed and pace lead by Harinourdoquy.

At the scrum I felt that Mas, Poux and Servat were outstanding and each of them delivered a great game. In rugby, the game starts in front and they fronted up in a way that England could not match.

But perhaps more than all of that was the togetherness of the group which you could see from before the game to the end of the match.

They talked a lot. They never for a moment stopped supporting of each other!

They played as a unit, being really aggressive.

But not everything was perfect and they will need to improve again to progress. In the break down, they contested all the rucks but without managing to steal the ball, which they will need to do.

And at times their defence organisation was very poor. Tuilagi broke too many tackles and passed through the defence line. They cannot afford that in the next match.

But they are through and England have gone home. For now that is all that counts.

How are France going to play to win this Saturday?

They must keep their momentum, speed ball on set piece and composure on the break down like Harinordoquy and Yachvili did sometimes during Saturday’s game.

They need to have a lot of variations/combinations like they had last Saturday at the scrum and line out. They need to be really well organised in defence, and to communicate a lot. They need to make sure that they stop nb 12 Jamie Roberts because he is a great  ball carrier breaking the defence line like Tuilagi.

They need to make sure:

That they are efficient in defence, one on one.
That they have a good line speed !
That they have good communication between forwards and backs!

No penalties, no soft penalties!

Be smart.

15 October – Wales v France 8-9

I lived a very intense 80 minutes because despite the red card, the Welsh did not release anything. They held on to the end! Bravo, bravo to France because the players never panicked and instead they managed to control the game!

21 October - Wales v Australia 18-21

For this match for third place, Northern Hemisphere against the South, I have supported Wales, because they deserved to be in the Top 3. But it is Australia who won.

Meeting with the XV of France in the final workout of the XV of France before the final. I told them that the next time I see them again I hope they will be World Champions! – With Raphael Lakafia, Marty David, Guilhem Guirado and Luc Ducalcon

Avant le match, sur TVNZ (lien vers site exterieur, video)

 23 October – France v All Blacks 7-8

How disappointing.  However today I am very proud to be French. Merci les Bleus !

24 October – Back in London

Back in London, it took me a few days to reset my clock and then take advantage of my kids for the last few days of half-term. What’s new? I leave for my native Cameroon tomorrow morning, to spend a week and visit the centers of the Serge Betsen Academy.

A match with Fat Boys 10s on 04/09

One of the orphanages which benefitted from the funds

Then I was off to New Zeland!

I arrived in NZ on 12 September, to play a game France Classic v NZ Classic on the 18th.

In Auckland, I met a lot of old friends…

With David Marty, Imanol Harinordoquy, Fabien Barcella, Dimitri yachvili and Damien Traille.

With Glen Osborne, an ex co-player at Biarritz

With Olivier Merle, Marc de Rougemont and André Herrero, four generations at the XV

I also bumped into a lot of interesting new people…

I also walked around as a tourist. NZ is a beautiful country and people are so nice here!

Lion Rock

I worked as well.

On set at Sky Sport

And of course the RWC… in all, an excellent month of September for me, to be followed…