The players of the French XV must have nightmares almost every night. “Ah, this ball kicked by Etzebeth”, “Oula, this transformation blocked by Kolbe”, “nooooo not a high ball”… Almost a month after the elimination of the French XV by South Africa in the quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup, the French internationals take the floor to describe their feelings after this failure. “An elimination that hurts,” says Thomas Ramos in an interview with The Team. I put so much into it that the pain was hard to digest. »
The Stade Toulousain full-back, who returned to the pitches of the Top 14 this weekend, with a victory against Perpignan, notably returned to one of the key moments of this quarter-final: his transformation, into a corner, countered by Cheslin Kolbe. “These are two points that could have helped us win, I tell myself that this will perhaps only happen to me once in my career,” he believes. And it happened that day. »
“It’s going to follow me for a while”
Thomas Ramos does not particularly blame referee Ben O’Keefe for not having looked to see if Kolbe was in a legal position, but regrets that the video referee did not review the action which caused so much discussion. An action which will remain engraved in the memories of many rugby followers, so much so that the opposing supporters at Stade Toulousain spoke to him about it when he scored.
“Everywhere I go, it’s the first thing people talk to me about,” explains the man who can play fly-half or fullback. Again this weekend, Perpignan supporters shouted “Attention, Kolbe”. This will follow me for a while. But it’s not something that bothers me. That’s the game.” And we find that rather funny. This is the rugby spirit.