Johnny Watterson profiles the heart and soul of Sale rugby club, Sebastien Chabal

The elemental qualities of Sebastien Chabal marry the way he plays rugby with the way he looks. His face and all of its exaggerated menace fits his trade. 'The Caveman' is the somewhat disparaging name his team-mate at Sale, Andy Sheridan, has tagged him with. Given that the prop is as big as the 6ft 3ins Chabal, Sheridan may well be the only player who uses that reference without trembling.

The French players' unkempt black hair, full dark beard and saturnine eyes have unmanned a number of defences since he arrived from Bourgoin in 2004. But the idea of a heavily-muscled, big-hearted, Rasputin-type character tearing through players with scant regard for himself or the opposition is an image that works well for the international number eight.

The pejorative image belies the finer qualities of the Gallic destroyer, whose feral game is deployed by Sale to do most damage and has been used to good effect this season and last. Wild may be the image but contrary to that, Chabal's effect has been more of a precision machine with specific devastating effect than a cluster grenade that may hit or miss. His three tries so far in the competition, including two against Castres in their 35-3 win, are as many as Jason Robinson and Gordon D'Arcy have scored, the most recent one arriving last week against Newport Gwent Dragons.

Munster and especially Denis Leamy, David Wallace and Anthony Foley have had close personal acquaintance with Chabal's force.

His marauding qualities around the park and especially off the back of the Sale scrum in their 27-13 win over Munster in Stockport earlier in the competition showed Chabal at his best - the Gallic warrior charging into confrontation with a who-dares-wins attitude.

Against one of the best defensive units in Europe, it was primarily the number eight who made Munster creak and groan. There is another aspect to Chabal. He is almost always up for it and Munster, a team that always demands full-on confrontation, will provide such a challenge.

Since he was first selected to play for France in 2000, Chabal has had an uneasy relationship with the national coach. While Bernard Laporte picked him in the French backrow for the 2003 World Cup, he dropped him afterwards and Chabal, eschewing diplomatic language, expressed his disgust. In last year's Six Nations and the recent Autumn internationals, Laporte could not ignore his form and Chabal played in French wins over Tonga and Australia.

Chabal has also regularly been mixing it inside and outside the law. Suspended for two weeks following a Rugby Football Union disciplinary hearing in November 2004 when he was found guilty of stamping on an opponent during an English Premiership match against Bath, it has not lessened his popularity in the slightest around the Manchester area.

More recently he was in trouble for engaging in an off-the-ball wrestling match with England scrumhalf Matt Dawson. It was doubtless one-sided but Chabal has an image to uphold and far from Sale reprimanding him, they have gloried in his play and his occasional contretemps.

They've been so impressed with his impact that the club coaxed him into signing a new three-year deal just before Christmas, which will keep him in England until 2009.

Chabal arrived up to Manchester from rural France, having been brought up in the middle of the country in Valence, situated in wine country in the Rhone Valley. The Sale director of rugby Philippe Saint-Andre, who also coached at Bourgoin, was the catalyst in attracting his compatriot. He has not been let down.

"Chabal is the heart of the team," said the coach following Sale's first win over Munster.

Forwards coach and former Welsh international flanker Kingsley Jones has also been singing off the same hymn sheet: "Chabal is a talisman for our club. In every club you identify with a player and the way he plays the game, the big tackles, the strength on the ball and the overall dynamic way he performs. We play to his strengths. He's very, very good going forward with the ball and a good man with the players.

"He's a leader on the pitch and yes the players would see how he plays and play off that. He also fits in with the squad on and off the field. You could be the best player in the world and if you didn't get on with the rest of the team, you'd be useless.

"Saint-Andre was in Bourgoin with him and at the time (of signing) we needed brute force up front and he fitted the bill perfectly. People think he's old but he's only 28. His best years are in front of him."

Chabal is a mixture of menace on the pitch and rumbustious performer off it. He has followed his instincts and as he predicted, is again in the French fold.

"I didn't think when I came to Sale it was finished with France," he said last year. "But sometimes, you know, you must think about one thing, playing well for your club. After the world Cup no one talked about me and I said 'okay, I'll change club, play well and probably play again for France."

As much as his aggression, his prescience has to be admired. "He tends to be in the thick of it when something nasty is happening," said Sale and England hooker Andy Titterrell.

Well the French like their steak blue and their mince tartare. Around Stockport it's not born-again-Christian Jason Robinson or Mark Cueto but 'The Caveman' who has his face on all the T-shirts.

ChabalFactfile

Born: December 8th 1977

International Debut: March 4th 2000 v Scotland.

Caps: 26.

Height: 6ft 3ins

Weight: 17st

Joined Sale: 2004

Former club: Bourgoin

Nickname: 'The Caveman'

Position: Number eight but anywhere in the backrow

Words commonly used to decsribe him: Devastating, aggressive, dynamic, explosive