This Friday, three of the four right pillars lined up at the Stade de France come from Stade Rochelais. A curiosity which obviously goes well beyond coincidence, for these three elements with very different profiles.
Uini Atonio’s previous appearance on the pitch at the Stade de France should have been his last, in the French colors at least: in the wake of the defeat in the quarter-final of the World Cup, the right pillar had bowed out internationally. But the desire to challenge himself was stronger than the rest and the native of Timaru finally left for a spin. With a good 6 Nations Tournament at stake: “I have just come out of five matches of the Tournament where I was not too “disgusting”, he summarized. I held the house all the same.” For him, history is now being written chapter by chapter: “Today I feel good, even at 34. We’ll see year by year. I’m not going to say three years before, that I’m going to go to the 2027 World Cup if in two years I start to get tired. If I don’t feel well, I’ll tell Fabien that I’m not there anymore, that I’m going through too much and that I’ve played too many matches.”
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Unavailable for the first two rounds of this tour, the Maritime will try to prove that it remains an essential element on the right of the fray in the face of the emergence of new counterparts, Tatafu and Colombe in the lead: “There’s a lot of young guys, especially on the right side. I’m excited.” Ready to show that age is just a number, in blue as well as yellow and black: “I extended until 2027 but not just to act like a clown.” After struggling for years to establish himself as one of the best right-handers on the planet – “I wanted to be the strongest in the world in melee”he told us a year ago – Uini Atonio will strive to stay that way for as long as possible. His new and ultimate challenge.
Flight despite the gusts
The story between Georges-Henri Colombe and Stade Rochelais is likely to end badly, the right pillar having decided to continue his career in Toulouse from next summer. But whatever happens, the native of Nanterre will, thanks to his time in Charente-Maritime, have achieved his main objectives: winning titles, progressing and becoming international. “When you spend ten years at a club, unless you are an indisputable starter, you have to leave at some point if you want to progress, he told us in November 2023 about his departure from Racing. It was a thoughtful choice, which bore fruit.” The right pillar had just lifted the Champions Cup, of which he had been one of the heroes.
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The French team, then, was in a corner of the head of this boy with great potential from whom he had to learn to draw the quintessence: “It’s obviously a goal even if I know that I still have a lot to work on. Afterwards, how high is the step? Good question… I still have to evolve on certain dimensions of my game, it’s a certainty At the international level, it depends a lot on movement and the sequence of tasks.” Three months after this interview, “GH” wore the blue jersey during the 2024 Tournament. A baptism during which he had proven his ability to keep up the pace. His obsession, clearly: “The sequence of tasks was the biggest of my weaknesses, he recalled last month. I am working more and more on this point. When you get the opportunity to touch more balls and play a bit more rugby, it’s attractive.” If his start to the season was chaotic and once again marked by the seal of competition, his obstinacy and his new resolutions were rewarded by his successful debut on the international scene. With two scratched balls and offensive tackles, he made an impression against the Blacks. And kept its autumn promises: “The first selections were etched in the memory and I wanted to prove that it was only the beginning, not the end. Not giving up and continuing to work, that’s the most important thing . In preparing for matches and weeks, I evolved to be even more efficient.” And the best is surely yet to come.
One of a kind
At 30, Joel Sclavi continues to impress. His career, already, is enough to challenge: revealed to Gernika in Spain, he had passed through Pau, Angoulême, Agen and the Jaguares before La Rochelle decided to bet on his potential. Left pillar at the base, the Argentinian also impresses with his versatility, rare at such a level of competition. Finally, he, who was renowned for his solidity in the scrum, continued to develop his game until he established himself, in 2022-2023, as one of the very best scorers for his club. Which earned Uini Atonio this astonishing tirade: “Sclavi? He’s the club’s best scorer, he’s the Leo Messi of La Rochelle.” And the tribute continues as follows: “He tackles, he tries, he plays on the right, on the left, he could even be at heel… I’m a little jealous.” A jack of all trades for the first maritime line, the bull of Mar del Plata is just as valuable for Pumas historically renowned for their scrum but faced with a lack of generational renewal on their right flank: left pillar – most often a replacement – During the World Cup, Joel Sclavi established himself as the right-wing captain to the detriment of veteran Francisco Gomez Kodela (39 years old). No doubt Reda Wardi will have some advice to give on the best way to approach the 190 centimeter and 135 kg specimen who, it is said, never backs down…
“AIn training, I only find myself facing internationals: there is no better trainer, you can imagine.” The words of the promising left pillar Louis Penverne (21 years old), spoken last month, will find particular resonance on Friday evening at the Stade de France: at kick-off, Uini Atonio (34 years old, 62 caps – 237 minutes of time playing this season) and Joel Sclavi (30 years old, 26 caps – 50 minutes) will have the number 3 in the back while Georges-Henri Colombe (26 years old, 6 selections – 159 minutes) will be stamping his feet on the sidelines; for the record, during this time, the fourth thief, Aleksandre Kuntelia (22 years old, 7 caps – 274 minutes), will prepare Georgia – Tonga on the Tbilisi side. In La Rochelle, the posts of pillars – of which Reda Wardi will be another ambassador – are a very serious matter. If Serge Milhas and Patrice Collazo held the thing in high esteem, the level of requirements and expectations has been further raised since then. Efforts in terms of recruitment – with the successive extensions of Uini Atonio and the arrival, in the summer of 2022, of the high potential Georges-Henri Colombe – and structuring – with the creation of a specific scrum coach position – testify to this.
And Gurthrö arrived…
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Since 2021 and the arrival of Gurthrö Steenkamp, every Tuesday gives rise to a high-level session between all the clients: “It’s 20-25 minutes where we work hard, Uini Atonio told us. Before, there was “Dato” (Davit Zirakashvili, NDLR) but it wasn’t the same. He was a consultant, he didn’t come in every week. The “Collaze” (Patrice Collazo)it was his specialty but he took care of all the forward play. Gurthrö does just that, the scrum. He’s our first real scrum coach.” The potential of the specimens emerged increased from this attention to detail, the scrum being one of the bases of the two continental coronations of the Yellow and Black: “Players have changed their mindset in scrum, in 2021, testified the Springbok pillar with 53 caps. Before, sometimes they didn’t work for two or three weeks. […] I am convinced that we need “mixed” stimulation every week to be even more effective and to help the players grow individually. Whether in “real life”, via games, technical work or even exchanges with players. […] Sometimes I just ask a player: “I need you to work on these three things, how do you think you can do that?” To be effective, the player himself must understand what to do and how to adapt.”
After having grimaced during the first sessions, Uini Atonio is now delighted: “Even when you’re not doing well in your role, he never pulls you down. You can only move forward with Gurthrö, not backward.” It is clear, at a time when all his protégés are crossing paths at the highest level, that the Steenkamp method is very effective.
