“If I do this World Cup, I would have taken my revenge on life. “Last April, in the columns of Midi Olympique, Bastien Chalureau does not yet know that he will be one of the 33 players selected by Fabien Galthié to compete in the 2023 World Cup on French soil. This Friday, the second line of Montpellier Hérault Rugby (MHR) was integrated into the group to replace Paul Willemse, club teammate, hit in the thigh and forfeited for the entire competition. The 31-year-old therefore leaves the list of reservists to join the 33.
Good news for him. A less good for the XV of France? Exposed to this level for the first time in his career, the 2022 French champion sees his recent past come to light. In November 2020, the native of Haute-Garonne was given a six-month suspended prison sentence for an assault committed in downtown Toulouse in January of the same year. “Acts of violence with the circumstance that these were committed because of the race or ethnicity of the victim”, specified the correctional court in its judgment.
“I recognize the acts of violence (…) but I formally contest the fact of having uttered racist insults,” he then told the Actu Rugby site. “Revolted” by the decision, Bastien Chalureau therefore appealed the conviction via his lawyer Me Antoine Tugas. Almost three years later, the second trial has not taken place and the investigation is therefore still ongoing. The charges against the 2.02 m and 118 kg rugby player took place at the exit of a Toulouse bar. Two former players, Yannick Larguet and Nassim Arif, were then struck by Bastien Chalureau, then dismissed from Stade Toulouse. Larguet also accusing him of racist insults.
Laid off by his club, which had nevertheless recruited him the previous summer, in 2019, the second line passed by Perpignan and Nevers will never again postpone the Rouge et Noir of the Toulouse stadium. In March 2020, he was loaned to Montpellier, recruited by then manager Xavier Garbajosa. “The first time we met was in Narbonne in a hotel, when I left this journey in the cell, told Chalureau at Midi Olympique, in April 2023. He gave me clear rules. He told me : If I see you in downtown Montpellier, you get out. “In two and a half years at the MHR, Chalureau has remained discreet off the field, where he has accumulated 68 games, 2 tries and 8 cards (7 yellow, 1 red).
To the point that in 2022, the door of the Blues opens for him. Three selections from March to November. Then three news, including a tenure this summer in Scotland. “We have been following him for two years in Montpellier, justified Galthié in November 2022. He has transformed. He took on a dimension that allowed him to enter this locker room. We felt it was appropriate to open the door to him. “The coach and the staff of the Blues will not say, on the other hand, anything about the judicial past of the player. “I don’t have control over certain events. I leave it to my lawyers. This story made me grow, ”supported him, Bastien Chalureau, still in the columns of Midi Olympique.
Described as a “moron” by Raphaël Poulain, ex-player of the Stade Français, as a “very invested worker” by his ex-coach Philippe Saint-André, Bastien Chalureau has rarely been unanimous. After a career disrupted by serious injuries, including a staphylococcus which could have cost him a leg, here he is now a few days away from a first participation in the World Cup. Even if all the questions are not settled yet.
