At OL Park,
We thought Thomas Ramos was a model teammate type. But in fact no: the 58,102 spectators of the festival of the XV of France against Italy (60-7) all vibrated with the sublime and unexpected opening at the foot of Damian Penaud to send Louis Bielle-Biarrey to the test (14th) . But not the Toulouse full-back, who admitted on Friday evening to having “no memory of this kick” from the new Union Bordeaux-Bègles winger.
It must be said that the 27-year-old player has multiplied his successes so much since the start of the Rugby World Cup (and even before) that it is not easy to keep everything in mind. If World Rugby chose Grégory Alldritt as man of the match on Friday, the dynamiter of this brilliant success synonymous with the quarter-final on October 15 (probably against South Africa) was undoubtedly Damian Penaud. Illustration with some extracts from its monstrous first half.
- 2nd: Hyper opportunistic, he is forgotten along the left wing before quickly concluding an impeccable French collective movement, via a final service from Thomas Ramos (5-0).
- 11th: Perfect touchline connection between Mauvaka and Woki, and the former Clermontois inherits a seemingly innocuous ball, after a relay from Lucu and Jalibert. But he throws himself full axis to pierce with incredible ease (and canes of fire) the Italian defense. Death toll: a player mystified by his hook and two tackles broken in the process. All of France gets up from their chairs, but his little kick in the direction of Louis Bielle-Biarrey is as well thought out as it is poorly executed.
- 13th: Will Damian Penaud think twice after this disastrous conclusion? Not really, he delivers a love pass to the foot above the Italian defense which therefore benefits Louis Bielle-Biarrey (no offense to Thomas Ramos, 15-0).
- 37th: He is completely forgotten, this time on the right wing, and hits the ball when Matthieu Jalibert finds him with a marvelous lobbed kick. And presto, a double which brings him closer to the heights of rugby (29-0).
Blanco, Lomu, Habana and Savea in the viewfinder (just that)
Because hold on, these two new tests from Damian Penaud make him credible to equal/beat legendary records: he is now ahead of Vincent Clerc in the number of tests registered with the Blues (35 against 34) and he no longer has any only three behind the legendary Serge Blanco. Likewise, with six tries already at this World Cup, he is only two lengths from the very closed circle of rugby players having scored eight tries in a single edition of the World Cup. Namely Jonah Lomu (1999), Bryan Habana (2007) and Julian Savea (2015). Not too bad this casting, right?
We must believe that his partners have in mind this possibility of seeing the Blues winger make history. The promising Louis Bielle-Biarrey (20 years old) could have had it bad to see the test ball sent by Thomas Ramos stolen on Friday (2nd). “No, it’s okay, he has to go get the record, so I’ll leave it to him without any problem,” slips his new teammate at UBB. Good atmosphere among the Blues.
30 tries in his last 31 matches with the XV of France!
Damian Penaud is 35 tries in 47 selections, including 30 tries in the last 31 matches with the French XV, plus 14 tries in the 2023 calendar year alone, what else ? Enough to have your head spinning in all directions and a popularity/media coverage about to catch up with that of Antoine Dupont? Not really, because the person concerned protects himself in this regard, to the point of having never yet appeared in front of the press after a match since the start of the World Cup. He contented himself with an appearance on Friday evening during the Rugby World Cup Mag on TF1, in which he showed his offbeat tone and his self-deprecation about his unexpected evening paws (not for him- even as he has accustomed us so much).
“The problem is that I took a swim during the week because at the end of training, I put on my tap shoes straight away and went into the bus,” smiles Damian Penaud. Lolo [Laurent Labit] came to see me to tell me that I needed to work on my footwork. I think he’s right because the first one ended up in touch…” But in fact, aren’t these prospects of prestigious records to be broken likely to obsess the former Clermont resident? “He doesn’t tell us about this World Cup try record,” confides Yoram Moefana, also the author of a double at the end of the match on Friday. “It’s us who sometimes bother him with that. He’s calm, it’s Damian. » Thomas Ramos tells us more about this.
Damian doesn’t bother with all this record stuff. His calmness in the face of all this is his strength. Likewise, speaking to the media is not an exercise he necessarily enjoys. After a match, he likes to trace and be quiet. By staying in his bubble, he scores two more tries this evening. Afterwards, even if he is still very detached, we must realize to what extent what he is doing is still immense. »
“He delights us, he delights you, it’s Damian!” »
And how… The worst thing is that the loustic is much more than an infernal scoring machine. Against Italy, he is the first player in the distance covered with carried balls, with 112 m in total, tied with Matthieu Jalibert, and far ahead of Grégory Alldritt (3rd in the ranking with 84 m). Add to that a kicking game full of promise, like his decisive action on Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s try, and you are faced with the biggest cheatcode of this Rugby World Cup, neither more nor less. This is why in the wake of the masterclass of the neo-Bordelais, Frédéric Michalak described him as “the best rugby player in the world in terms of creativity and offensive play”. A real compliment that is not stolen for the best essay director in the competition.
In such a concert of praise, there is nothing like a certified weighter like Fabien Galthié to dampen the general euphoria about him: “It’s simple: the winger is the last player in a chain of skills. Damian is lucky to play in a team that performs well and puts him in comfortable situations. Individual performance is served by the collective, regardless of the player. He contributes to the team’s performance and the team contributes to his individual performance, it’s a mix of the two.” The Blues coach will not blame us for preferring the words of Pierre Bourgarit, more in line with the crazy score that we experienced on Friday from Damian Penaud (but also from the entire XV of France, obviously Fabien ). “It’s a bit of the will-o’-the-wisp of this team,” says the La Rochelle hooker. He is capable of anything, we saw it again this evening. His first kick was not necessarily the most qualitative, but on the second, he delights us, he delights you. It’s Damian, and we’re very happy to have him with us. ” Not better.