Vincent Clerc praises Louis Bielle-Biarrey

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From the status of almost surprise guest during the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Louis Bielle-Biarrey is now a major and essential offensive weapon of the XV of France a year later. A meteoric rise to which Vincent Clerc returned pour At the time of Rugbythe former winger of the Blues full of praise for the UBB nugget. “A profile that he likes”, as he told us before the World Cup.

Vincent Clerc admiring Louis Bielle-Biarrey

We almost want to say that Louis Bielle-Biarrey climbed the ranks of French rugby as quickly as he dropped Sevu Reece like a common second-rate winger to score his try against the All Blacks.

“More than its progress, I see above all a confirmation. What he does is that he confirms step after step, big match after big match, whether with Bordeaux or against the All Blacks. That's what's super interesting about him, his performances are equal, whatever the opponent. This shows that it’s not a flash in the pan,” admires Vincent Clerc.

Before continuing: “No matter the opponent, he manages to reproduce his performances and bring his qualities to bear. Of course, he's only 21 so he'll continue to improve, but he doesn't have a lot of weak points already! »

“LBB”, flawless winger?

The former Toulousain perhaps made more easy use of his devastating noise than his pure speed, although he would not have had anything to be ashamed of in this area. That said, we will probably give the point to the Bordeaux player in this sector, the latter probably not having many equivalents at the moment.

When making a list of his qualities, it is also an avalanche of praise addressed by the record holder for attempts in the Top 14: “He has an elegance of racing, a speed which means that, when he sets out on the way, there's a sort of suspended moment where we wait to see if he's going to drop everyone off. Especially thanks to this timing, his secret weapon with this little follow-up kick that he masters to perfection, to get ahead of the opponent. »

“You feel that he is a hard worker, offensively and defensively, that he will kill himself at the task of repeating the efforts until it pays off. Whether it's attack or defense, he has this mindset of a hard worker who works for the team. An activity throughout the match which is extremely interesting for the collective. It manages to reproduce very high intensity efforts. He manages to maintain his speed throughout the match,” continues Clerc.

“And then there is his state of mind which makes people start to get attached to him. He has this altruism and we often see him trying to put inside balls back to save touches,” he believes.

In addition to knowing how to play just for himself, Louis Bielle-Biarrey makes very few errors of taste in his choices for the collective. A quality highly appreciated by his elder.

Indisputable with the Blues

Just 18 months ago, the Damian Penaud – Gabin Villière pair seemed untouchable, a subtle balance between the free electron of the UBB and the brawler of the RCT. Louis Bielle-Biarrey, at the age of 21, seems to have synthesized the two.

“Louis and Damian have quite complementary profiles, they are above it for the moment. Even if Gabin remembered our good memories and had a rather good tour. But today, I think there is no profile like that of Louis,” admits Clerc.

There is currently no equivalent to Louis, he is the best. In terms of speed, in terms of defense, in terms of intelligence and the few mistakes he makes in the match, I think that today he is indisputable with the XV of France.

A downside under the high balloons?

If we don't stop him, Vincent Clerc is capable of giving us a list of the qualities of Louis Bielle-Biarrey as long as an arm. But does it have any flaws?

“From the outside, there aren’t too many weak points. In fact, we don't want to say that he has faults because he has very few. Frankly, I don’t see much in him,” smiles the former favorite of Ernest-Wallon.

Perhaps there is still room for improvement under high balls. But here again, it is a weakness that Vincent Clerc wishes to put into perspective: “We are talking about high balls because we have in mind the quarter-final against South Africa which had been tough, but which had not been hard as an individual as for him. It's a collective effort and I don't think he's really struggling with that or that there's a technical weakness. »

Like undoubtedly an overwhelming part of the supporters of the XV of France, Vincent Clerc is therefore part of the Louis Bielle-Biarrey fan club for a good while.

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