XV of France – Romain Buros until the end of the dream

Let us dare to say it, now that the curse is finally broken: for a long, long time, we believed that Romain Buros would remain the eternal member of a very particular caste, that of the “almost internationals”. Of these players who are always placed, but never winners. Of those who could, in truth, have given in to the desire to wander around everything, by dint of endless return trips to Marcoussis, without forgetting two trips to the antipodes (Australia 2021 in the middle of covid, Japan in 2022 ) to only ever taste the sacrosanct “high intensity workouts”. Except that – and we can see a beautiful sporting morality here, right in the middle of what must be called “the Jalibert affair” – the Landais from Aire-sur-l’Adour is not the type to feel sorry for oneself. And finally had the pleasure of experiencing tenfold pleasure during this famous evening of November 16, 2024, of which we still do not know whether it will have many sequels, but which the person concerned blithely did not care about. “ On Monday, I saw in training that it was likely that I would start, then it was confirmed on Wednesday, blew the rear of the UBB. In the meantime, it's been three intense days in terms of stress… Even if everything hasn't been perfect, I'm just happy and very proud to have finally been able to wear this jersey. It was hard to dream of anything better. This selection, I waited for a while, but it was really worth it… Because it was against the Blacks, because the victory was at the end and also because I had the chance to score this little essay which helped to spark the revolt.” An achievement full of determination as a funny wink to his ex-manager Christophe Urios, who precisely criticized him for “don't like to score”…

“I lost a lot of impulse during the warm-up”

A dream debut at the Stade de France, then? Crossed by chance in the corridors where he was officiating for his national television, the Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll (author of a hat-trick in this same enclosure for his first cap in 2000) did not say anything else. “I found the French full-back very comfortable for a first selection, which is never easy when you play at home.” Especially since this emotional pitfall was precisely the one that we feared for Romain Buros whose natural shyness did not seem to predestined him to manage the pressure likely to overwhelm him… Which the person concerned did not deny, moreover. “To be honest, I think I lost a lot of impulse during the warm-up, he joked coolly. That's probably why I had cramps around the 60th. I tried to reassure myself before the match and I wanted to do too many things: races, receptions… Which is ultimately not useful because these actions are necessary during the match. succeed, not before. In reality, I did exactly what Thibault Giroud (ex-physical trainer of the XV of France, Editor’s note) told me not to. But hey, I still tried to have as much fun as possible. Overall, I had a pretty good experience with this moment.”

You would have to be very difficult not to have appreciated it, really. Especially since the Blacks, great princes, did not wish to complicate the premiere of Buros any more than that, reducing the formal bombardment that was promised to him to a vague warning shot, without follow-up… “However, we had worked on this a lot, in relation to the new rules which favor these duels and the fact that they had hit a lot in their last two matches, the Girondin wondered. I admit we were a little surprised.” Still, sometimes wisdom consists of not asking too many questions. Just as we now wish Romain Buros to never again question his ability to transpose to the international level the qualities that we observed in him every weekend with the UBB…