Underwear Profile #8: Frédéric Michalak

What is it about rugby players?  The rippling muscles?  The hard bodies?  Their ability to take a beating and get right back up?

Whatever it is, take that, double it, add a spice of French zest, and you have my latest underwear profile, that of Toulouse native Frédéric Michalak.

I got turned on to M. Michalak courtesy of one of my French exchange students, who just happened to be from a small town outside of Toulouse.  Not only does Michalak visit this tiny slice of heaven for an occasional scrum, it’s also played host as a stop on the Tour de France, which means that southern France seems to be the place to go if you’re searching for a bevy of hot guys or want to retire into some impressive scenery!

In any event, Michalak is not only known for his play in France, but in South Africa as well.  He’s made several trips there, including for humanitarian causes.  He debuted in 1998, was a member of the French championship team in 2001 and the Heineken Cup teams in 2003, 2005 and 2013.  He’s been a part of two Rugby World Cups (2003 and 2007), and he is currently under contract with Rugby Club Toulonnais through 2014.  As a fly-half and scrum-half, he has a career 1422 points.

Physically, he’s an impressive specimen as well.  He’s six-feet, 190 pounds, and has several distinctive tattoos, including a Maori tribal that runs up his right thigh and arches up onto his back (I liked the artwork so much, I had a local artist duplicate it for me), and a swath of Arabic that runs diagonally up his chest and over his left shoulder.  Michalak will be turning 31 in October but isn’t one to let opportunities pass him by or injuries to keep him down, having posed for numerous rugby publications in France as well as advertising campaigns for Nike and Levi’s.  Like many of his fellow ruggers, Michalak varies his appearance by appearing clean-shaven in one scrum and scruffy in the next.  And although he has a luxurious head of hair, he likes the short stubble of a buzz cut.  That isn’t to say that this is his preferred state: he’s been known to bleach his hair white-blond for matches, too, just to make a point.

Nothing is off limits for Frédéric Michalak – good boy, bad boy; rugby pitch, bearskin rug; bare-chested or bare-bodied, he’s the spicy Gaul who’ll show it all!  Bon appétit, mes amis!