The specialists and his admirers all say so.
Julien Dumora does not have the recognition that his talent would earn him.
At 34, the back of Castres Olympique does not have many weak points.
Impeccable placement, sure hands, precise kicking, long, strategic.
And he is far from timorous when a recovery opportunity arises.
His peers know it.
But in an era where knowledge counts more than the know-how, education, values, of the child of the Vallée d'Ossau, of the Béarnais who grew up in Arudy, are not compatible with the m 'have you seen.
To discover
Schedule and Top 14 results
Ranking Top 14
His career, he built it at the Section Paloise, at LOU, then in Pro D2, to end it, after a brief stint of a season at RC Toulon, at Castres Olympique, which he joined in the summer of 2014. Not the most glamorous club, the most publicized - probably wrongly... - to hope that the spotlight is on you.
But a club that matches his mentality.
“
I rediscovered at the CO the values conveyed to me in my Pyrenean valley when I was a kid.
Here, the group takes precedence over the individual.
You don't think about your little face before you think about friends.
Afterwards, if within this collective, you manage to make good matches, that's good too
, ”he adds with a smile.
Read alsoTop 14: in Castres, "
we play with the heart and for our family
"
The time to hang up the cleats may be getting closer and closer, he says he has no regrets about this choice.
On the contrary.
"
Being recognized has never been a leitmotif,
" he recently assured L'Équipe.
That's not why I play rugby…
” But to share a human adventure, to feel in osmosis with the team's state of mind, to give for your teammates as much as they give for you.
The inherent discretion of CO players?
Live, and play, in the smallest city of the Top 14 (43,000 inhabitants, just in front of Brive)?
He assumes.
He even enjoys defending the colors of a sub-prefecture.
“
It's a bit of the image we can have of us, but, within our collective, we also know that we can play good rugby and good matches.
We have convictions, we are not just the small Gallic village in the middle of the others.
The proof is, we are once again in the final.
This season, we have been very consistent.
The Castres collective has grown.
We are sure of our strength.
»
“I would have liked to have a selection”
In the semi-final, against the cumbersome neighbor, the hegemonic Stade Toulousain, it was he who forced the lock, scored the decisive try which sent Castres Olympique to the Stade de France.
A stunt from which he derives no glory.
Him or another to make the team's work a reality, it doesn't matter… Which doesn't prevent the Tarn club from nurturing new ambitions.
“
Favorite for the title?
We are not hiding.
But this is new to us…
”
So no regrets?
A little anyway.
Which doesn't prevent him from sleeping, but teases him a bit.
“
I would have liked to have a selection.
If she didn't come, it must have been written like that.
I believed it, though.
When you see your name come out in the media, you always look forward to the list announcements…
” Not anymore.
Luck has passed.
This will not prevent him from fully savoring the conquest of a second Brennus shield in four years.