Stade Toulousain: “He understood certain things…” How Joshua Brennan changed dimension to the point of being able to claim the French XV

Everything comes in time to those who wait. Jewel among the jewels of Toulouse training, Joshua Brennan took his time to go through the stages. And establish itself, last year, as an element on which the staff can long-term count. “In the maturation of a Stade Toulousain player, we know that we have a number of weeks, months, years, for him to reach a first level which allows him to enter the rotations and play in a manner more frequent, poses Ugo Mola Josh is coming off a fairly remarkable season last year, particularly with impacts on matches that counted.

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With 24 matches to his credit and appearances in the two finals played and won by the “red and black”, the 22-year-old second row not only largely contributed to the second double of this generation but also undoubtedly reached a milestone. cap. “He may have become aware of the demands of the very high level,” continues Mola. “These are boys who are very quickly dominant in the youth categories, who very quickly have responsibilities in the French youth teams, so they are often boys with whom we have a lot of expectations, and when they don’t evolve as quickly as we all hope, we’re a little disappointed.”

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N.4 above all

A character player, like his father Trevor, “Josh went through a little complicated passage two seasons ago” according to the boss of the Haut-Garonnais staff, who praises the way he bounced back to overcome the obstacle and give a logical continuation to his progression: “He understood certain things, put them in order both in his physical development, in his preparation, in his ability to integrate a lot of things. And today, he is taking the measure of the environment in which he operates. He is an ambitious boy who has real predispositions.

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By modifying his approach after having “understood that the Top 14 seasons are very long” and that it was necessary to “recover well to be able to continue”, Brennan was able to put them forward sustainably. Just like his staff took advantage of his skills to explore a new path by trying it, successfully, in the third line. A one-off versatility which gave him the opportunity to develop new qualities. With increased mobility and significantly increased activity in the current game, it is not uncommon to see him dominate collision zones more frequently.

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“I was able to develop this ability to last a little longer in a match; which allows me to touch a little more balls too,” admits the man who nevertheless considers himself a No.4 above all. And who makes his manager proud: “Obviously he’s a boy who matters to us because he’s a club kid like his two brothers (Daniel, today in Toulon, and Bobby, Crabos of the club, Editor’s note). He arrived so early with his dad and his family. It’s always nice to have a kid from the club who thrives in the top team.”

Soon summoned with the Blues?

Starting on the same basis this season, including an XXL performance against La Rochelle, Brennan, who “still has a lot of room for improvement” according to Mola, is also on Fabien Galthié’s radar. If a selection in the fall seems unlikely – it is hard to imagine the coach of the XV of France taking a third second row at the Stade after Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou – a call-up to the group of 42 is far from utopian.

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According to our information, his name was indeed checked by the former scrum half in an extended list. A destiny with the Blues that the person concerned doesn’t want to think about yet: “For the moment, I’m not asking myself too many questions about that. I’m focusing on the club to perform well and, afterwards, we’ll see later.” Because now that everything seems in order, there is no question of skipping steps.