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Champions Cup: Maxime Lamothe (UBB), Europe before the XV of France?

2023-01-14T08:15:08.589Z


Atypical and explosive hooker, the Bordelais, expected this Saturday on the lawn of the Durban Sharks in the Champions Cup, has a real card to play for the Six Nations Tournament after the withdrawals of Peato Mauvaka and Pierre Bourgarit.


"

He's a great Top 14 hooker (...) Maxime Lamothe will have to be counted on in future years for French rugby

".

By pronouncing this sentence last week, his coach at UBB (and former hooker) Julien Laïrle did not think so well.

It was just before the injuries suffered this weekend by Rochelais Pierre Bourgarit (knee, absent for two to three months) and Toulouse Peato Mauvaka (broken finger, absent for more than three weeks) which upset the hierarchy of N. 2 French, three weeks from Italy-France.

Hitherto behind Toulouse Julien Marchand, Castrais Gaëtan Barlot and these two injured, a door may have opened faster than expected for the U20 world champion in 2018, who will celebrate Saturday in South Africa his hundredth appearance with the pros (84 Top 14 matches, 15 in European Cups).

To read also XV of France: injuries, returns, uncertainties … Where is the infirmary of the Blues before the Tournament?

At 24, Lamothe, who went through Bayonne on loan to get playing time in 2019-2020, has become a real UBB leader this season.

He has changed, he has really evolved

,” confirms Laïrle.

"

It's important because he has a key position, he's on a 2-8-9-10-15 spine.

We had asked him to take a little more thickness in the group, he is doing it

”.

Lack of consistency when throwing into touch

He nevertheless “

needs to adjust his consistency in throwing

”, underlines his trainer.

Complete hooker, modern and active, Lamothe distinguishes himself from his competitors by his mobility and his perpetual excesses of function.

Last season in Montpellier, he made an impression by grilling the entire Hérault rearguard to score in a corner, after an oblique run of 50 meters, with a hook on Paolo Garbisi and resisting the tackle on the shoulder of Anthony Bouthier.

Beyond the "

50-22

" that he dares to try and even succeeds, as against the MHR recently, Lamothe does not hesitate to jump under opposing referrals or under candles, like a three-quarters, like a reference on the subject to his position, the former Irish international Keith Wood twenty years ago.

Read alsoTop 14: the UBB formalizes the arrival of Yannick Bru as manager

International scrum half Maxime Lucu, who has been rubbing shoulders with his competitors at Marcoussis for two years, thinks he is "

very close

" to the selection.

He doesn't have a lot to change

,” he explains.

He misses chaining big matches for 10, 15, 20 matches.

Consistency is what matters at the top level and that's what the staff of the France team look for.

The better you are at the club, the more good matches you have, the more you are likely to play matches for the France team or at least to be called up.

Luck will smile on him one day

.

And why not at the end of January, with this internship planned in Capbreton with the Blues, or later this fall?

"

It's a dream come true, a World Cup in France in 2023. Who wouldn't want to play a World Cup in France in 2023?

“, said the interested party at the start of the season.

"

But for now, I prefer to focus on UBB, play well and help the team win.

We're going to take it step by step

."

Source: lefigaro

All sports articles on 2023-01-14

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