PARIS — ‘French flair’ is one of rugby’s most overused phrases. It’s back in fashion, though, thanks in part to the winger son of a former France flyhalf who is closing fast and furiously on one of the national team’s oldest records.
Damian Penaud is the latest great hunter of tries for a France team which produced Christian Darrouy in the 1960s, Roland Bertranne in the 1970s, Philippe Sella in the 1980s, Philippe Bernat-Salles in the 1990s, and Christophe Dominici and Vincent Clerc in the new century.
The greatest of them all is the record-holder, Serge Blanco, who retired as captain in 1991 with 38 tries.
The wonder is how, with all of the success by Les Tricolores, Blanco’s milestone has managed to last this long. Although not for much longer at Penaud’s rate.
He has a second-best 35 tries. Going into the quarterfinal against South Africa on Sunday at Stade de France, Penaud leads the Rugby World Cup with six tries, and is on a career-best seven-game streak of try-scoring.
The finisher opponents have come to fear has been beating speed records in training, says France strength and conditioning coach Thibault Giroud.
PHOTOS: Damian Penaud is the France finisher opponents have come to fear at the Rugby World Cup
“He must have got the wrong person because, honestly, I’m not the fastest player,” Penaud said bashfully during a recent television interview. “Louis Bielle-Biarrey is like a scooter, he’s hard to catch up!”
Bielle-Biarrey caught Penaud’s inspired cross-field kick to score a try in the left corner against Italy last Friday. It was unexpected from Penaud, who is not known for his kicking, and it came about after a word from backs coach Laurent Labit.
“I got told off, because at the end of training I was putting on my flip-flops and getting straight on the team bus,” Penaud said. “Lolo (Labit) came over and told me I needed to work on my kicking game, and he was right.”
Penaud’s father knew a thing or two about kicking, and was also handy at scoring tries.
Alain Penaud played 32 tests, scoring 10 tries and five drop goals as an inventive and visionary flyhalf who helped France win the Five Nations Grand Slam in 1997. He won the European Cup with Brive that year and later played for Toulouse and Saracens.
A look at the father during his 1990s heyday shows Alain and Damian both are strong-jawed with the same flat-top haircut, both quick and slippery runners.
“He stays in the background,” Damian said of his father. “But he’s always given me good advice, and I’ve never felt that he’s gone against my decisions.”
Alain’s test career stretched from the 1992 Five Nations to the 2000 Six Nations but he never played in a Rugby World Cup, something he still regrets. But he’s clearly passed on the love of the France jersey to his son.
“I tell myself that it could be the last time I wear it,” Damian said. “It pushes you to give your best so that you don’t lose it (the jersey).”
Penaud scored France’s first try of the Rugby World Cup on the opening night, in the 27-13 win against New Zealand. He followed with a hat trick in the 96-0 rout of Namibia, had his 27th birthday, then crossed for two more tries last Friday in the 60-7 demolition of Italy.
The two against Italy gave him 14 tries this year, eclipsing Phillipe Saint-André’s French calendar-year record of 12 in 1995. Six so far in the tournament also tie him for most tries by a Frenchman at a Rugby World Cup with Jean-Baptiste Lafond in 1991 and Clerc in 2011.
Penaud’s 35 tries have come in 47 tests: Scotland has suffered the most by conceding seven, and he’s scored four each against England, Australia, Italy and Japan.
Penaud’s first test try was on his test debut in a stinging defeat to South Africa in June 2017. Penaud was picked at center alongside Gaël Fickou that day in Durban.
He didn’t score again for nearly two years, during a 44-8 mauling by England.
That debut try remains his only touchdown against the Springboks in five tests, four of them defeats. They are the team Penaud has had the least success against.
On Sunday, he’s in the form to start setting the record straight.
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