Last season, Thomas Combezou missed only one match with Castres Olympique. Few players can boast in the Top 14 of being so essential to a team, while being humble and transpiring the values of rugby. Thomas Combezou is a bit like that player. Born in Tulle, having attended his rugby school in Ussel before leaving for Clermont, La Rochelle, Montpellier before landing in the Tarn, Thomas Combezou has experience of the Top 14. With three final phases of Top 14, including a victory in 2018, the center three-quarters plunges back into its memories, talks about this next match against Brive, but also delivers his desire to return to Corrèze soil.
Thomas, is a trip to Brive always special for the original Tullist that you are?
Tulliste yes, rather Haute-Corrèze, a little higher, but everything Lamazière-Basse, Egletons or Neuvic (laughs). But yes, it’s a special trip because it’s my favorite department and you always want to see your family who will come to the stadium for the match. I have a lot of friends who will come, my children…in short, it’s always a special match because we come back to our home department.
Castres and Brive, two teams that look alike
In addition, Castres and Brive, in this case, are teams that have one thing in common: in their stadiums, there is a huge atmosphere and they are often intractable….
Yes Yes Yes. It’s true that Brive and Castres are two teams that really look alike. The public is a public is in love with his club, he has values and he pulls his team up and the team needs it. So there are a lot of similarities between Castres and Brive and and it’s really matches in every particular way.
You will also arrive in Brive in a special situation, with a really good season. You are almost in the fight for the top 6. You are there at the moment and you have been performing well lately….
Yes, we are in the fight for the top 6. This is very clearly what we want to achieve. Afterwards, you don’t have to get carried away either. We will meet great teams until the end of the season and today, it can go up and down very quickly. Do not take the lead and especially ask too many questions. All trips are going to be important, we are six games from the end. All points will count, whether for Brive or for us. So we all need points to gain serenity.
His 200th match at Castres, Saïd Hirèche and his debut at Ussel
It will be the 201st game of your career at Castres. Does that mean anything to you? Will it be as special as the 200th?
That, you know, I don’t look after that, because I’ve played a lot of Top 14 matches. It’s the 200th in Castres, but I’ve already done a lot of it in clubs like Montpellier, La Rochelle or Clermont. So, it’s true that it’s nice because it’s a certain recognition in my current club and especially because I feel good there. And it proves that there was continuity in the team. But now it’s over. Place for performance with the team and the club and we will leave that aside.
Despite everything, do you think back a little to your beginnings in rugby in Ussel?
Yes, of course, because it’s still my training club. It’s a club that has always been dear to my heart and above all, I went to rugby school there, training with all my friends. So yes, of course, I’m thinking about it, but afterwards, we evolve, we become men and we move slowly towards a certain rugby maturity and today, we are closer to the end of the beginning.
Precisely, in front of you, this weekend, there will also be a passionate man who has decided to extend for a year. It’s Saïd Hirèche, the captain of Brive. Is he also impressive from Castres?
Well listen, Saïd is someone who, I think, for the Brive club, is emblematic. Of course, he was very, very good for quite a few years at Brive and today he is really a leader for this team. So of course he is someone who is respectable and I think he is respected by most Top 14 players. His career at Brive shows his regular involvement. It’s important to have players like that in a club like Brive because there aren’t the best players in the league. But on the other hand, there are values and these values are transmitted by players such as Saïd.
His return to Corrèze as a farmer
Thomas Combezou, are you already thinking about the end of your career?
I still have a year of contract left in Castres, so we will give ourselves the maximum. And above all, do not overuse these last games of my career. I want to give it my all because in Castres, we can still play very high level matches, and above all, perhaps aspire to make the final stages. So, when you are a competitor, you want to play them.
Next, could it be a return to Corrèze?
Certainly yes, I will return to my native Corrèze because I will certainly settle down with my brother Julien as limousine cows in the town of Lamazière-Basse. I want to take over the family farm with my brother who is already settled. So there’s a good chance I’ll be back aroundYeah. A few more months and it will be final. The job of farmer fascinates me: it is a job with a future, which allows an entire population to eat, so I think it should be respected. I think that these values conveyed by this profession are mine and those that I want to convey for the future.
Before that, there is this match against Brive where you will come with ambitions…
We come to make the best match possible. Brive needs points like us. We are aware of the task ahead of us. This team gave us a lot of problems in the first leg with their defense. It is a team which, facing the wall, proves that it has great values. And when you have great values, you get great benefits.