XV of France – Benoît Saint-Denis recounts his time at Marcoussis with the Blues: “Uini Atonio gave me a play…”

“I was contacted by Grégory Alldritt, with whom I speak from time to time. He explained to me that the French XV often brought in public figures to share their experience and bring the group out of its bubble. I obviously accepted the invitation. It was Raphaël Ibanez who took care of me on site, including the presentation of the Marcoussis structure. He was also the one who introduced me to the players. It was a real honor and privilege to be able to be present. I spent two nights there and received an incredible welcome. I was able to immerse myself in the world of the French XV for a whole day and it was very enriching, professionally speaking. I’m going to draw inspiration from a few tips that I’ve observed. During the day, I was able to interact with players (even if we already do it quite a bit through social networks).

I saw guys like Gaël Fickou or Nolann Le Garrec who I already knew when I used the hypoxia room at Racing 92 at the time. Tevita Tatafu too, whom I often met in Bayonne, with whom we have a partnership which allows me to benefit from their infrastructure in physical preparation and from one of their trainers, Fabien Berenguel, who does remarkable work with me. It’s nice to see them all there. There was a nice moment during physical preparation, I was with Cédric Cassou (physiotherapist of the French XV) who made me try a force sensor where we worked on the cervical muscles. The results are on a screen hung on the wall.

Behind us, Uini Atonio gives me a coin, making me believe that my score was not great. Piqued, I start again and pulverize the new score obtained. I found there the team sport side, where you surpass each other. I adore ! Besides, in the evening, when I was explaining how to perform a rear choke, I performed one on one arm on Uini! And so, as I said, in the evening, I was with them and I gave a mini-conference in which I shared my experiences: my adventure as a soldier in the special forces then that of a professional MMA fighter (arts mixed martial arts). The players were very interested: surely the professional combat side which makes them curious. It was a real pleasure to be able to interact with them, we have a lot of similarities in our respective professions in the end. I saw that there was real enthusiasm around my career and myself and that gave me a boost for the future. When an institution like the XV of France supports you, you can only want to surpass yourself.

The Blues are excellence, they all have great qualities. I really like several players on the team, like Antoine Dupont. What he brings to French sport is gigantic. But what struck me the most was not the current players, but their coaches. Fabien Galthié, William Servat and even Raphaël Ibanez are legends of the sport that I watched as a kid; There, you can say that I’m a fan. I also think of players like Thierry Dusautoir, even if he is no longer part of the squad. I wish them the best for the future and they are all welcome to training to test MMA in Bayonne!”