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This season, he took the keys to the truck. After the departure of Maxime Machenaud for Bayonne, Nolann Le Garrec has established, at 21, as the scrum-half number 1 of Racing 92, ahead of the experienced Teddy Iribaren, in search of his best level and leaving for La Rochelle. Great French hope long brooded by the Ile-de-France club, the native Breton has seen this year his playing time explode with the Ciel et Blanc: 24 games played (only two as a substitute) for a playing time of 1,567 minutes (against 984 last year).
After the coup d'éclat in the play-off against the Stade Français Paris, it is a pass out of category that is offered to him this Friday (21h): the great Stade Toulousain led by Antoine Dupont, considered the best player in the world in his position. A major challenge for the number 9 in the Île-de-France region, who has certainly progressed this season, but still needs to improve.
"He is an excellent player, we all know it, he has enormous potential, welcomed Thursday his teammate, the international center Gael Fickou. This year, he has asserted himself enormously. He plays a series of matches, he has also participated in a lot of gatherings with the France team. It is in its evolution. He brings us a lot of freshness, he takes a lot of initiative."
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He responds and we are very happy with what he does." Laurent Travers
At his beginnings in the Hauts-de-Seine, Laurent Travers had marked: "It's a diamond. It's up to us to do what it takes to polish him well and so that by 2023, he can quickly apply at the highest level." Before facing the Stade Toulousain, the Altoséquanais technician highlighted the progress made by his number 9. "We did what we had to do so that he could flourish and move upmarket. Which it did. From the beginning of the season, he had to be able to take matters into his own hands. To take responsibility for the game of Racing. He has assumed it very, very well, appreciates Laurent Travers. He is someone who may be young in age, but who has a tremendous amount of talent and experience. He has this ability to store a lot of things. He responds and we are very happy with what he does."
Passing speed, accuracy of his vision of the game, Le Garrec has long been cataloged as a little prodigy. In his time, seeing this young man with long teeth arrive, Maxime Machenaud had let go: "He is someone who stinks of rugby!" Who lives, who eats and who sleeps rugby. "We wonder if he doesn't sleep with a ball! He wants to succeed, is ready for many things and does not give up despite his young age, "had admitted the former international scrum-half.
The Garrec - whose father, Goulven, had been scrum-half of Bègles and junior world champion (1995) before becoming assistant coach at Vannes (Pro D2) - has on the other hand a small flaw. He likes, in his own words, "when things happen fast." He had played in the U20s while being doubly outclassed, while still a minor. Same thing at school: he had his scientific baccalaureate a year early.
A footwork that can still be improved
After having gnawed his brake in club, he is now at the helm at Racing 92. And he also took a step forward by being summoned by Fabien Galthié and his staff, while many imagined him scheduled for the 2027 World Cup. "It's a boy that we have arrowed, like Antoine Dupont at the time, but not with the obsession that he splashes everything in three months," had nuanced Sébastien Piqueronies, former manager of the U20 double world champions (2018 and 2019), now at the head of the Section Paloise.
Summoned to Marcoussis, he was able to discover the Antoine Dupont phenomenon, get to know him, see how he evolves. "It's a chance to be able to rub shoulders with him on a daily basis," said the Racingman during the last Six Nations Tournament. I try to make the most of everything I can learn from him, his good sides, to be able to progress according to my profile too. Because there are things Antoine can do and not many others."
Today, the hierarchy seems well defined in the team of France with Antoine Dupont as a must, Maxime Lucu as understudy and Baptiste Couilloud for the last jump seat. Unless Baptiste Serin returns to business. It's a lot of people in front of him...
A perfectionist, Le Garrec had pointed to one of the areas in which he still needs to improve: footwork. Here again, Dupont is a role model. "Now, the game at the foot of the number nine is very important, whether at club level or at international level. And it's true that Antoine has this quality of having a very long footwork and also being able to use both feet. It's something very important to be able to relieve the team, "he detailed.
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I can tell you that he still has some under his feet. It will, like the wine of the president (Jacky Lorenzetti), improve over the years... »
Laurent Travers
If he himself admits that he "likes to have responsibilities", the number 9 of Racing, who has just celebrated his 21st birthday, must also and above all learn to channel his enthusiasm, to manage his strong times and his weak times. This was explained to him by the coach, Fabien Galthié. "I exchange a lot with him and Laurent Labit. I love talking about rugby, I'm not closed on the game. A sentence of Fabien remains in my mind: that I was always facing the game, he stressed in the columns of L'Équipe. It means holding your head up, seeing the spaces, and he told me he liked it a lot. We also talked about what I needed to improve. I didn't feel like I was wasting my time at all. I felt like I belonged."
His learning is far from over. Its "extraordinary" potential, according to Laurent Travers, is still perfectible. "If he manages to take advantage of the next few years and improve the areas of his game, he will be able to assert himself with skills comparable to those of the best in the world," explained Sébastien Piqueronies. With a black dot to erase. "That's my fault: wanting to do too much, wanting to do everything when I can delegate, being more sober, making the team play well and waiting for the right moment to sting."
And in this area, it is not Antoine Dupont that he thinks of but of his colleague of the hinge in Toulouse and in the team of France. "The best for that is Romain Ntamack," he said in the sports daily. He's able to control a game for 70 minutes and poke on the right action." This is called maturity. But Laurent Travers is not worried: "I can tell you that he still has some under his feet. It will, like the wine of the president (Jacky Lorenzetti), improve over the years..."