Racing-Clermont: Teddy Thomas, a festival but still no club

A wizard.

A juggler, a tightrope walker, an acrobat too.

Above all, a rocket.

Teddy Thomas offered a real one-man-show, despite the absence of the public, in a room that has not seen a show for a long time.

Facing Clermont, on the synthetic turf of Paris La Défense Arena, which, pandemic obliges, now alternates between vaccinodrome and rugby field, the Racing winger gave a recital this Saturday, a handful of hours after the Premier's visit. Minister Jean Castex, who came the same morning to support the progress of vaccination.

Untenable, elusive for Clermontois much too lax in defense, Teddy Thomas had fun. In ten minutes, he wowed the gallery and ridiculed his opponents. A slalom to start and serve his rear Kurtley Beale for a first try (8th), a series of juggles at full speed for the exact same result two minutes later, and finally a solitary overflow, from his aerial stride, to flatten into a corner (18th). Thus put on the rails, his team wandered (45-19) and returned to the podium, in a good position to win his ticket for the final phase three games from the end of the regular championship.

“Individualities make the difference but you need a very strong and united collective for them to express themselves, it's the same in all sports, insists manager Laurent Travers who carefully avoids quoting Teddy Thomas.

You have to see the quality of the passes, their speed and their timing which are the basis of all this.

"

The Toulouse stadium has given up

The technician will not praise his star player whose future remains unclear even today. At 27, the winger of the Blues (27 caps) still does not know where he will evolve next season. After seven years with the Ciel et Blancs, the former Biarrot understood that the Ile-de-France leaders did not intend to extend his contract. Too expensive (around 30,000 euros per month) for ups and downs according to them. "We must understand that it is the collective that takes precedence, everyone must put themselves at its service, make this effort", Laurent Travers hammered again when he was asked if he did not think of going back on his decision. .

On the market for several months, Teddy Thomas had no other serious contact. The Toulouse Stadium had seemed interested for a time but it quickly gave up in front of the amount of the salary. Can the situation change today among Ile-de-France residents, when his great friend Gaël Fickou has just joined him there?

“You all know the friendship we have Gaël and me, underlines the Racing winger.

We are neighbors, and now we play in the same club.

So we really see each other every day.

In these last two months of the season, we realize a dream that we wanted for many years.

For the next one, it depends, I suggested that he come with me to Japan

(Editor's note: a joke between them)

but he's not hot at the moment, so I don't know.

If Teddy Thomas continues to shine in the finals and if he weighs on his team's games as much as against Clermont, he should end up, however, by catching someone's eye.

In Racing or elsewhere.

Dots :

Racing 92:

6 tries from Beale (8th, 10th), Thomas (18th), Le Guen (36th), Fickou (43rd), D. Taofifenua (67th), 6 transformations from Iribaren (8th, 10th, 18th, 36th, 43rd), Gibert (67th), 1 penalty from Iribaren (27th).

Clermont:

1 try from Ravai (22nd), 1 transformation from Parra, 4 penalties from Parra (7th, 16th, 28th, 31st).