The international right pillar, trained at Stade Français Paris, signed up this season with the province of Dublin, opposed this Saturday to ASM, his former club.
The last challenge of a busy career. Last July, Rabah Slimani, who had only known two clubs in his career (Stade Français Paris 2009-2017 and Clermont 2017-2024), decided to try his luck in Ireland, in the prestigious province of Leinster , based in Dublin. He became the first Frenchman to wear the colors of the quadruple European champion team and he is, this year, the only “Frenchy” to compete in the United Rugby Championship (formerly Celtic League) since Antoine Frisch has him took the opposite path, leaving Munster (based in Cork and Limerick) to join RC Toulon.
At Leinster, the team which provides the most internationals to the Clover XV, few foreign players are recruited, other than more than renowned talents like the South African second row RG Snyman or the New Zealand center Jordie Barrett. However, Rabah Slimani could have been, as a coach, this season on the bench of… Clermont. It was the contract and retraining that he had signed with ASM (two years as a player plus one year as a coach), but he decided that the time to hang up his boots had not yet come.
“I had already signed a contract to become coach at Clermont with Jono Gibbes but he was fired in January 2023 and replaced by Christophe Urios. Who offered me an additional season but as a player. After some reflection, I gave him a positive answer. But I had to wait until June 2024 to receive a proposal from the club, he told the Figaro . All season, however, I had said that I wanted to continue. Everyone knew it. There were a lot of misunderstandings and misunderstandings during this famous season. Coach ? Player? Both ? It lasted the whole season without any feedback. Before he was contacted by the Irish province, an offer he couldn’t refuse.
A great man who lives only for scrums! He’s a fantastic character, a great man, very easy to get along with
Jack Conan, Leinster captain
And in Dublin, his experience and good humor quickly won unanimous support. Above all, his knowledge of scrum allows him, at 35 years old, to still be as formidable. After Leinster’s victory over Ulster in the URC, Jack Conan, Dublin captain that day, praised, on RTÉ Sport, the man who has 57 caps with the French XV: “A great man who lives only for scrums! He has been an incredible asset to this industry. He’s a fantastic character, very easy to get along with. Plus, he loves football.” And to smile: “Zidane is his favorite footballer, so he’s always out kicking a ball.”
The experience of Slimani – who has played six matches this season (four as a starter, the last against Bristol last week) – also benefits the young Irish shoots. “We believe he will be a great addition to the squad, not only providing competition to the first team (Tadhg Furlong et Thomas Clarkson), but also helping some of our young frontline players (Paddy McCarthy) to learn and develop, Leinster manager Leo Cullen explained.
“I am here to learn new things but also to pass on what I know and which can be useful to young people, explains the 2015 French champion with Paris. Like the elders did with me. It’s very rewarding to be recognized for the work I’ve been able to do so far.”
There is no imbroglio because behind the word imbroglio, I don’t know what it means. There is clarity
Christophe Urios
This Saturday (6:30 p.m.), he will meet his former teammates from ASM Clermont Auvergne again, during the second day of the Champions Cup. A date that he checked off as soon as the calendar fell. “I said it, with the luck I have…. It’s going to make me feel weird,” he smiled. Even if he would surely have preferred to return to Michelin to meet the yellow supporters one last time. “I will always have this little frustration, because, after seven seasons at ASM, I left through the back door. As if I hadn’t been there, he told us. When the season ended, I had not yet signed for Leinster, hence the absence of a farewell to the public after the last match. And to conclude, wise and fatalistic: “But that’s how it is. I don’t blame anyone. It was destiny…”
This week, Christophe Urios returned to a press conference on the departure of the right pillar. “There is no imbroglio because behind the word imbroglio, I don’t know what it means. There is clarity, declared the Auvergne technician in comments reported by The Mountain . It took a while. There were things that were put in place, then, ultimately, it didn’t happen like that because he himself didn’t want to stop. And I think he was right because he had an incredible season, but there is no imbroglio. We tried to find a solution. But we couldn’t find it. Leinster has arrived. He went to Leinster and it’s very good.”
