Portrait – “I'm happy to have finished with this nightmare”, breathes Bernard Le Roux

A little over three years ago, Bernard Le Roux (36 years old, 47 caps) was the indisputable number 4 of Fabien Galthié and William Servat, in the French team. Not so long ago, people even said of the great “Bernie” that he was indestructible, unbreakable and unbreakable. Broken down by a series of concussions in the winter of 2023, the former Racingman nevertheless had to resolve, last June, to leave the stage without having been able to write the epilogue to his French novel. “Last year, he told us recentlyI went through very difficult times. I would have liked to see the Arena one last time, I would have dreamed of being able to play one last match with Racing but I didn't have the opportunity. No player would have wanted to finish like me.” For six months, Bernard Le Roux has been living in South Africa with his wife Marzanne and their two children (Zandré and Lara), a stone's throw from Cape Town, in a small coastal village called Jacobs Bay. The pain, anxiety and migraines have disappeared. From past troubles, only “mild symptoms” persist, reminding him why he was “so afraid”, during the darkest hours of his injury. “I still have a few small symptoms but nothing extraordinary, compared to what I experienced last year. There, it was something crazy: fasciculations (involuntary contraction of muscle fibers, which makes you flinch skin, editor's note), migraines, mood swings, fatigue… I'm happy to be done with this nightmare.” He who recently said goodbye to Racing now swallows up his new life with gusto, watches his children grow up, rediscovers a country left fifteen years earlier, does crossfit to stay in shape and in the morning, abandons the marital bed without the need for swallow a Doliprane.

“I was talking about it the other day with my great friend Wenceslas Lauret: it's a joy to wake up without pain, without cramping, without a swollen ankle, without a blocked back… Thinking about it carefully, I spent fifteen years of my life having pain everywhere all the time.”

His best years under Fabien Galthié

The mourning probably complete, he barely thinks back, moved, to the blessed time when he formed with Paul Willemse the second line of the XV of France: “I loved this moment, he continues now. With Paul (Willemse), we dominated, we were strong, we felt good. I think I experienced the best years of my career at the start of Fabien Galthié's mandate. And even if the Blues' style of play has evolved a lot recently, I continue to believe that they miss the physical dimension that we brought with Paul Willemse a little, sometimes…”

I want to clarify something that has always intrigued me a lot: how can a country of 4 million inhabitants like Ireland produce so many good rugby players?

And Claire, “Bernie”? “I don't regret anything about rugby. I loved everything about my sport: the tackles, the penetrating mauls, the victories and defeats. I just regret not having performed well enough with Racing from 2022: our forward pack was less dominant than before and I had difficulty expressing myself there.”.

Recent graduate in Marcoussis

Its future, you say? Bernard Le Roux seems to have marked it out not without talent, recently obtaining his coaching diploma at the CNR of Marcoussis, this “DEJEPS” which hides behind the brutality of the acronym a State Youth Diploma, of Popular Education and Sport. He explains: “I am quite proud of myself, who until now had only known a school curriculum in English. At Marcoussis, I wrote reports in a language which is not a priori mine, defended my project in front of a jury… I validated everything in one year when French coaches sometimes have to try it several times. The state certificate, I know how difficult it is since neither Chris Masoe nor Ronan O'Gara. , which I nevertheless consider to be two great coaches, have so far been unable to achieve it. I myself almost gave up on several occasions, it was so overwhelming…”

In the near future, the former second line would therefore like to pursue a career as a defense coach, a sector in which he always invested a lot when he was a player. He develops: “Over the last two years, I have spoken a lot with Shaun Edwards (the defense coach of the French XV, Editor's note). Defense is a facet that fascinates me and has always fascinated me. Today, I I want to pass on, to develop young people as I have been lucky to have been educated by my successive coaches. I do not have the ambition to become a head coach but I would love, one day, to take charge. defense of a professional team”.

In the meantime, “Bernie” is preparing today, through a strange initiatory quest, to complete his rugby culture with dignity. “At the beginning of December, he now concludesI'm going to embark on a world tour. I will start with the South African provinces, the Sharks and the Stormers. I will continue in professional Australian rugby union clubs and I will finish in Europe, within the academies of Leinster and Munster. There, I want to clarify something that has always intrigued me a lot: how can a country of 4 million inhabitants produce so many good rugby players? Big question, comrade…