He left the Vélodrome pitch in tears.
Sent off in the 32nd minute after receiving two yellow cards, Paul Willemse precipitated the fall of the Blues against Ireland (17-38) a week ago, at the opening of the Six Nations Tournament.
Touched, the second line of the XV of France returned to this episode as part of an interview published in L'Équipe this Saturday morning.
“It’s just rugby, there are much more serious things in life.
But, obviously, that doesn't take away my responsibility and my guilt.
I know that if it didn’t work in this match, it’s because of me” assumes the Blues executive.
Pinned twice for high tackling by the refereeing body, the Montpellier player was first warned in the 9th minute after a clearing on the head of Andrew Porter.
“After this, I have a choice to make.
Either I say to myself “Paul, calm down, be careful”.
But what does that mean?
So in my head, it’s more like “keep going as you did, you had a weird situation but you have to stay the same in your commitment”.
If I start to get scared, I might as well give up on the match.
So I return to the field with the same state of mind, the same desire to win my duels.
»
If the intervention of the bunker, the rule allowing the referee to give a yellow card to a player initially and leaving the officials in charge of the video to examine the situation after the fact, allowed Willemse to escaping the direct red card, the 31-year-old international quickly made a mistake again.
The man with 32 caps with the Blues was indeed guilty of a second shoulder-to-head tackle on Caelan Doris, forcing the man in black to send him to the locker room after half an hour of play.
“A mental injury”
“When hot, I have the impression that the contact is at the level of his shoulder but there is this movement that goes up and it touches the head.
With this speed, as soon as I see the image on the screen, I understand.
» If he admits to having been “on the limit”, believing that “teams that are too clean win nothing”, the native of Pretoria (South Africa) suffered from this new hard blow in the tricolor jersey.
“This match was a crazy opportunity for me.
I missed the World Cup due to injury, I am not in the first list for the Tournament and I am called up after a withdrawal
(
that of Emmanuel Meafou
).
I was really hot!
I had a second chance.
And then everything falls apart.
»
Suspended for four weeks, a sentence reduced to three weeks after accepting an awareness training course at World Rugby, Willemse will miss the trip to Scotland this Saturday (3:15 p.m.) and the reception of Italy (Sunday February 25, 4 p.m.), but is already planning for the future.
“It’s not a physical injury, but a mental injury.
We need to do rehabilitation, regain confidence to avoid doubting my next tackles.
For me, it is always the supreme pride in my career to wear the French team jersey.
It will never change.
I have a few years left in me and for the near future, I feel in good shape to continue at international level despite the sacrifices that it requires,” he concluded.