Top 14: “I have contacts abroad, especially in England”, confirms Anthony Belleau, the opening half of Clermont

In Clermont for three seasons, Anthony Belleau, from Monflanquin in Lot-et-Garonne, will leave the Auvergne club at the end of the season. The ASM opening half could join a foreign club, probably in England. Northampton would hold the rope to recruit the player trained at the SU Agen and who started professional in Toulon, according to information from the team. In the meantime, Anthony Belleau, who has played 21 games this season with the Jaunards, has the intention of ending his adventure on a good note, with a qualification in the final stages. Interview

You will live your last months with ASM. What do you remember from these three seasons in Clermont?

It was a very positive experience. The fact of having left at the time, to have changed clubs, to have discovered a second club in the professional level, which was culturally opposed to the first that I knew, it was really a lot of learning. I met really top people here. It was a superb adventure. Obviously, I would have preferred, even if this season is not yet finished, having a little better sporting results, because we have not qualified in the final stages the first two seasons. So I hope that on this third and last season, it can do it. I obviously only remember positive in the adventure.

This season, ASM is still quite close to the final stages …

The seasons are increasingly tightened. There is much more competition and each match really matters. For the moment, we have stayed in the leading peloton throughout the season, even if we have experienced an empty passage. We have always been glued to these qualifying places for the final stages, and this is our goal from the start. So we are still there, four days from the end. The goal is always to qualify.

“I really have at heart to finish on a good note and bring the club as far as possible”

You have played a lot this season. 21 games, including 11 tenure. What assessment do you have from your season from a personal point of view?

I am very happy with the place I have in the team, the role I have to play. And I really have at heart to finish on a good note and bring the club as far as possible, starting with the qualification in the final phase, which Clermont has not known for many seasons. There is a nice card to play, and of course, I will be concerned until the end of the season.

Clermont is still in the transitional phase. Do you feel that there are still good bases that are laid in particular for the years to come?

We know that there are cycles within clubs. But the top 14 is also very demanding and we don’t have too much time to procrastinate. So you have to look for short -term results, because it is also important in the construction of a club. We cannot always hide behind this word of reconstruction. Obviously that bases are laid, but there are always things to work and improve, especially as we approach the end of the season where you have a card to play. We will really have to redouble their efforts to ensure the last sprint.

“I really want to play abroad from a very young age”

You will leave Clermont at the end of the season. Several rumors send you to England, including Northampton…

I have contacts abroad, especially in England. For the moment, I cannot say anything about my next destination. But in any case, I am in discussion. I always told myself that I would like to go and play in a foreign championship one day, to live abroad, to get out of what we are used to knowing. They do it by coming to France, but we don’t do it too much. And I thought it would be a superb experience, a superb enrichment that is both personal and rugby, to discover something completely new.

Did you spend a kind of job interview during the 8th final of Champions Cup between Clermont and Northampton?

I have already been asked the question. This is clearly not the case. There were already contacts with several English clubs that had been made, but I can make the share of things between the field and the off-terrain.

French players who have evolved in English clubs are not numerous. Is it also a challenge for you?

There is both personal enrichment and rugby enrichment. I find that we have a lot to learn from these experiences. And it’s something that has always been in a corner of my head. It was really something that has always spoken to me, that has always motivated me in my life, to tell me that if one day I had the opportunity to do it, I would really think about it twice to see if it is doable or not.

Has the experience at the Leinster of Rabah Slimani, your former teammate in Clermont, played in your desire to try an adventure abroad?

No. I really have this desire from a very young age. I always liked this adventure side. We have the chance to do a job where we exchange daily with lots of players of different nationalities around the same passion. We are fortunate to be able to learn, to rub shoulders with people who come from the other end of the world, from other countries, with different cultures, lifestyles. I have always seen it as an opportunity to enrich, to learn a little more about yourself, on others, and to be a little less stupid. I was very happy for Rabah Slimani. Frankly, it’s huge because it really plays in a European European club, which is ultra-performance, so it must be a great experience. But now, I didn’t need that to be motivated to go abroad. It was really something that I always had in me.

“The 4 cantons-bhap have caused this chance of being able to maintain themselves”

We know that you are a diligent follower of the 4 cantons-bhap. This season, they were relegated to Federal 2, but they were finally drafted. I imagine that you must be happy to see them maintained federal 1?

As soon as I could, I looked at the results a little and I asked for the information on the content. Rugbystically, they have nothing to envy to other teams of Federal 1. It was obviously the first time that the club was at such a level, and there was undoubtedly a difference in experience, a difference in size too. There were clubs coming down from the national championship. What makes a little the strength of the club is training and playing ball. It was fun, in any case, to know that they did not escape in the face of the challenges waiting for them. And precisely, I find that they have caused this chance of being able to be able to maintain, even if, at the base, they had the demotion. Because of what they wanted to produce, what they wanted to put in place. They hung on because there are matches that they have not lost many. Casually, it is deserved to be able to continue this adventure in Federal 1.

There they have a second chance. And, at first glance, they are ambitious for next season …

I really hope they will keep their DNA. This is what has been strength for me from the start. It is a club with few financial means, but which has absolutely extraordinary human resources. This is what is the strength of this club. It is the soul of this club, of the agreement, so I hope that it will last and that they will succeed in really stabilizing and continuing to live this adventure.