What memories do you have of the final against Toulouse?
I have plenty of them. But the first to come are memories of the end of the night. We are in a lost bar in Montmartre with Vincent (Moscato), Philippe (Gimbert) and the Brennus shield. We have to join my uncle who was a florist in Paris. I promised him we would bring this Shield. We have leather caps, we’re a little disheveled, it’s early morning. With our heads, the taxis don’t want to stop. We finally found one. He is told to open the chest to put on the shield. He didn’t want to. He knew nothing about rugby. He thought it was something stolen from an antique store. Eventually the shield was too big for his trunk and he made the trip to my uncle’s house stuck in the back of the car in front of us.
Is this the culmination of a three-year adventure?
Yes. Exactly. It’s a short three years anyway. This comes from the will of André Moga who had returned to business. He wanted to fire his last cartridges. Thanks to Pierre Pédeutour, I had arrived from Nice. There were 25 recruits, some one-eyed, some lame. By the end of the first year, it fizzled out. Then Vincent Moscato arrived, then Philippe Gimbert. Bernard Laporte had returned. A collective was formed with a private trainer, Yves Appriou, who rather liked fighting. We built ourselves on super simple values. But in three years, we reached the end, surprising everyone, even us.
“We got to the end surprising everyone, even us”
Two years earlier, Stade Toulousain had humiliated Bègles in the round of 16 at Musard (47-3). Was your Bègles built in opposition to this model?
Quite. We built ourselves a lot on affect and pride. We were quite clear-minded about our rugby skills. And when you take 47 home, you can say what you want, your ass is red. We said never again. And from there, we accentuated the combat side. Even if it means not playing, you might as well prevent others from playing. We were in a rugby that we would describe as dispossession to use a fashionable word.
In the reports that Antenne 2 devotes to Bègles, you appear as the intellectual of the group, the theoretician of violence. Wrong?
It’s my curse. As soon as there’s something stupid, we look for the brain, and we say it’s him. Believe me, within this group, everyone had their part. There were many apostles, and one God, who was Bernard (Laporte).
Was the “turtle” the identity mark of your team?
Once again, we didn’t have any big ambitions for the game. Without insulting our three-quarters, we said to ourselves the more we keep the ball in front, the better. At the time, people said that our carried balloons were a novelty. I think that the great Béziers of Raoul Barrière was already making penetrating mauls. But they had other advantages. The difference is that we have made it a strategic force. We spent a lot of time refining the thing.
The final
Bègles beats Toulouse 19 to 10
Bègles: 2 tries from Courtiols (6th) and Mougeot (36th), 2 penalties and 1 transformation from Sallefranque, 1 drop from Reigt.
Toulouse: 2 tries from Cazalbou (66th, 76th), 1 transformation from Ougier.
In your adventure towards the title and its somewhat sulphurous legend, you lose a round of 16 first leg against Toulon at Mayol which has gone down in history for its violence. For you, this match remains a founding moment?
It was a singular, intense moment. I remember that on the bus leaving Mayol, we were all pumped up with adrenaline and testosterone. And the big guys at the back of the bus were happy. We didn’t care about the score. There was only our rear Marc Geneste who was making a fool of himself with his accounting logic. He told me about our nine points behind (18-9). I told him that it wasn’t a problem, that we were going to crush Toulon in the return match (22-6). After what we had done at Mayol, we had the feeling of having won. We had made an impression. In a very particular register, we held our reference match. In the second leg, the stadium was packed. The prefect had sent CRS to prevent possible excesses. There hadn’t been a slap.
“André came down and with a blast of the horn brought everyone back into line”
In the semi-final against Béziers in Toulouse (13-12), it is Christophe Reigt and the three-quarters who save you. Did the back lines have a say or did the right to debate stop with Bernard Laporte?
The right to debate stops with Bernard in all circumstances. There was media attention at the front but the group was very united. It’s true that there were oversized egos and I was one of them. It was a group that “self-socialized” to use the words of Yves Appriou. There was a lot of debate.
What relationship did you have with Yves Appriou, your coach, and with André Moga, your president?
Yves was the key. Any other coach would have failed. Yves had the social intelligence to understand that there was incredible potential. He never gave up on the complexity of the human equation. He was always in control. He set a framework that was broad enough to allow us to express ourselves. But we had to respect the framework. And then above him, there was André Moga. When Yves asked him to calm the little ones down, André would come down and with a blast of the horn would bring everyone back into line.
Bernard Laporte, Serge Simon during the protocol ceremony.
Who had the idea to shave your head before the final?
Like in many groups, we were looking for identification things and there were few things except the hair. We started with the idea of cutting our hair ever shorter as we progressed through the final stages. We all had to do it. In the end, there were only five of us.
During the protocol ceremony, you seem ready to crush François Mitterrand’s hand.
No. I was very impressed. I was raised in a communist family. At home, they said he was a social traitor. But shaking the hand of the President of the Republic meant something.
Were you nervous before the final?
We had a high level of motivation. But we were happier to fall against Toulouse than against Racing CF. We had beaten them in Du Manoir. In Racing, there was “big thumb” Tachdjian, Genet, Blond. They could play in a technical register that resembled ours.
“It couldn’t have ended any other way. It was like a match.”
Return of the winners, Saint-Jean station.
Legend has it that in the final, you made Claude Portolan, the Toulouse right pillar, cry.
It’s not a legend. He comes out before the match is over and he’s interviewed and he cries saying “they’re cheating” while talking about the scrimmage.
Is this title the beginning of the end?
Yeah. It couldn’t have ended any other way. It was like a match. When you turn it on, it’s pretty, but you know it goes out quickly. We weren’t calibrated to handle that. They were two faces of the same thing. An incredible energy that we were able to control for a moment. A title is difficult to manage in a normal club, but then in ours… And then there was the disappearance of André Moga who held everything.
Bernard Laporte said that this title should bind you for 20 years. What remains of this promise?
She is held. We were in police custody together with Bernard. That’s a link. But more seriously we stayed close with Seb (Conchy), Vincent (Moscato), Marc (Geneste), Christophe (Reigt). We see each other less but the bond is unbreakable.
