Stade Toulousain and Stade Rochelais face each other in the Top 14 final on Saturday. Facing the Rouge et Noir, crowned 21 times, the Maritimes could win their first Brennus shield.
Saturday evening, he will be present on the lawn of the Stade de France at the entrance of the players, before seeing, between two and three hours later, a new line register on his list. Trophy awarded to the winner of the Top 14, the Brennus shield has made generations of rugby players dream. What does it feel like to lift your first Brennus? What is its impact on a career? Three former winners, Serge Betsen, Vincent Clerc and Dimitri Yachvili, look back, with a smile, on their memories of the premiere.
A first title of champion of France always has a particular taste. Especially for Serge Betsen and Dimitri Yachvili, who both experienced extra time before winning their first Brennus. “I remember the bitterness of the fight”remembers Serge Betsen, crowned in 2002 with Biarritz Olympique against Agen (25-22). “It was not a final like any other, like what I had been able to experience from a distance, like what you think of when you imagine a final. You think that in the 80th minute, the match is over, and then you have to continue.”
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Something to make the victory even sweeter. “At the final whistle, when you realize you’ve won, there’s so much adrenaline that you no longer feel the fatigue, the pain”, rewinds Dimitri Yashvili. He also won his first title with Biarritz, against Stade Français, after extra time (37-34). The first title was also special for Vincent Clerc, who could not participate in the final with Toulouse against Clermont (26-20), having just injured his cruciate ligaments. “I remember that my teammates gave me the shield, carried me on their shoulders, Clément Poitrenaud in particular”he explains. “It was something fabulous, to finally manage to touch the Brennus.”
“We think a lot ahead”
Once acquired, the trophy changes a player for the rest of his career. On a personal level, first. “It’s Uborn validation, a reward for all the work done”, Dimitri Yachvili analysis. “We think a lot ahead”abounds Serge Betsen. “The forward is all the sacrifices and work to get there. In the history of this trophy, many players have tried and haven’t even touched it with their fingertips. It’s a question of course, luck, generation of players, environment.”
For some players, the title is also part of a life course that gives it a particular resonance. “For me, there was also the family aspect, since my father played rugby in Brive in the 70s.says Dimitri Yashvili. “He had played two finals against the great Béziers and had lost both, so I knew the frustration of not being able to lift a Brennus. When I managed to do it, it’s so much jubilation, pride. “
“The first time I really had the feeling of being able to touch the Brennus was during my first season in Biarritz, in 1992. I was lucky to see the club reach the final, but then to lose against Toulon. That day, I had said to myself that one day, I would take revenge for Biarritz. It was a relief to tell myself that I had dreamed of something, and that I I am given the means to achieve it.”
Serge Betsenat franceinfo: sport
The emotion is also due to the special place occupied by the Brennus shield in tricolor rugby. “There is such a strong symbolism around this trophy, we feel that it is anchored in French culture, it speaks to all generations, to our parents, to our grandparents… It is very strong to ‘be able to write his name on it’, savors Vincent Clerc. Awarded since 1892, the fitness trophy “mythical” And “impressive”according to Dimitri Yashvili, marked the history of his sport. “I started rugby in the 1980s, there was no European Cup, no World Cup yet, which arrived in 1987. So that was the trophy to win”summarizes the latter.
“Nothing beats the first time”
The first coronation can also transform a player humanly, and collectively. “Winning binds a group, a generation of players, to a story.”, reveals Serge Betsen. With his teammates from Biarritz, they have created an association and meet every year during the Bayonne festivities. “It’s also that, for me, this victory, and rugby. We come together around a common story that recalls the good times spent together.”
But above all, according to those questioned, it conditions the rest of a career with a desire: to taste these sensations again. “That makes you want to come back, start over. It’s pure adrenaline, but it’s very short, very short”explains Vincent Clerc. “You spend your whole career trying to find those emotions and that feeling, the last minutes, the final whistle…”
“When you have known the joy of lifting it once, when everything comes down, you want to find that moment again”, approves Dimitri Yashvili. And this, even if the following titles do not have quite the same flavor: “ATWith Biarritz we managed to do the double, to win it twice in a row in 2005 then 2006. But nothing beats the first time.”