Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Monday September 23, 2024 at 12:01 p.m.
Transferred to Toulon this summer after three years outside France, Antoine Frisch made his Top 14 debut this Sunday at the Stade Jean-Bouin. The cherry on the cake for the French international centre who discovered the elite of French rugby there: the RCT won against Stade Français (14-10), the club which had decided not to keep him six years earlier.
Antoine Frisch, RC Toulon’s new lucky charm? We’ll have to wait (at least until the second match, Saturday against Vannes) to find out. In any case, for the 28-year-old Franco-Irish centre’s big debut under his new jersey, the RCT won (14-10) against Stade Français, moreover on the pitch at the Stade Jean-Bouin where it’s never easy to pull off a feat. Frisch may be a French international (Editor’s note: He is also eligible for Ireland) and have already spent a lot of time on French pitches, but the most anticipated recruit of the summer in the Var had never played a Top 14 match since his debut (“it would be incredible to live that experience”, he admitted recently). After having learned the ropes at the lower level – in Tarbes, Massy and Rouen – the native of Fontainebleau, not retained by the… Stade Français after two years spent with the Soldiers of the Roses in the juniors, had in fact preferred to continue his apprenticeship outside France. Transferred in 2021 to Bristol, Frisch had left England for Ireland and the province of Munster, the country where he is from and where he had stayed for two years, notably winning the title in the United Rugby Championship. Performances which had earned him an invitation by Fabien Galthié to breathe the air of the Blues at the end of the Six Nations Tournament and then to be called up again, this time this summer on the occasion of the tour in Argentina (he has two selections). On Sunday, for his first in the Top 14, the player who should also be entitled to a very warm welcome for his debut at Mayol was able to count on very special and personal support, his family and all his friends having copiously filled one of the stadium’s corners.
Mignoni: “A good first match for him”
“They don’t live far from here, so they all made the trip. They had to make do because I didn’t have enough tickets (laughs). I didn’t expect that anyway. It’s weird, because I haven’t been in France for three years. But I knew that they had been waiting for a match here for a while, honestly, it’s really touching”. The fan club of the Neo-Toulonnais didn’t come for nothing, because not only did the attraction of the season on the Toulon side shine for his baptism of fire, but he also allowed his team to win. It’s hard to dream of better. “I’m super happy, it’s a good first. It wasn’t a pretty match to watch, but we got the result, so that’s the main thing”, savored on Canal Plus the French international center, who was eager to start. “I started a little late, it was a little frustrating, but I’m really happy, honestly, and I can’t wait to play more matches.” A wish shared by his new coach Pierre Mignoni, also delighted with the first steps of his recruit, from whom he expects a lot. “I found him very clean in what he had to do. He couldn’t do more. I didn’t want him to do more, by the way. It’s a good first match for him, he’s someone who should bring us a lot of certainties. He should take up a lot of space in the team and that’s what he’s going to do.” If he can also become the RCT’s lucky charm, no one in the Var will complain.
