Thibaud Flament staying next season?

[MarleyWasp]

From Yahoo Sport:

Wasps' Frenchman Flament 'lucky' with Belgium virus confinement
Illtud DAFYDD
AFPMarch 30, 2020, 8:19 PM GMT+1

Wasps forward Thibaud Flament's unorthodox path to professional rugby reflects his experience during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Frenchman Flament, 22, has returned to his family home in Brussels where he has full access to a gym and training pitch thanks to the club his dad founded, Stade Ucclois, with lockdown rules lighter in Belgium compared to Britain.

The loose forward, who can operate at lock and back-row, has featured 16 times for the English Premiership club in his first full-time campaign after coming through the ranks at Loughborough University and spending a year in Argentina.

"I'm very lucky. It's obvious, I see other players, they have indoor bikes, rowing machines and some weights. I have that, but having a weights room and a field available is great. I'm lucky to have access to that," he told AFP.

"It's better for me here to work and train because everything at Wasps is closed, we don't have access to the gym," he added.

During his studies at Loughborough Flament went from the fifth team to starting for the firsts in English rugby's third tier National One league.

He spent a year of work experience at the French Embassy in Buenos Aires and turned out for top-flight side Club Newman.

"I played in the final of Argentina's national championship. It's an unforgettable memory, unfortunately we lost but it was great," he said.

After finishing his studies the Ricoh Arena side offered him a two-year academy contract, but he has been given his first-team chance with the likes of England's Joe Launchbury and Wales international Will Rowlands away on Test duty.

"Launchbury was at the World Cup which was a bonus for me. There were also injuries at second-row, I was playing straight away," he said.

"During the Six Nations Launchbury was with England and Rowland was with Wales. There were two second-rows fewer and a back-rower injured. I had circumstances which were great. I made the most of these circumstances," he added.

Flament has 12 months left of his deal at the club based in England's West Midlands but has ambitions to play for his country by 2023, in the Top 14 and even further afield to continue his global rugby travels.

"I'm eyeing playing for France without any doubt. It would be great to play in a World Cup, and even more so in France," he said.

"It's my country's league. I grew up with it, I dream about playing in the league. I'm really happy in the Premiership and I don't wake up every morning saying 'I absolutely have to go to the Top 14'.

"I also want to play in Super Rugby. We'll see what comes up," he added.

The Premiership has been put on hold due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Flament is eager to return to the field but said a training period needs to be put in place before matches restart.

"Everything that is muscle memory and the movements is impossible to get back a week before playing after five weeks off," he said.

"Seeing that there will have been a big break, you have to prepare your body to take the hits in training.

"I can't wait to get back to it but unfortunately things are out of my control. I'm starting to miss it."

[NellyWellyWaspy]

So, 12 months left under contract. Would Wasps release him though, if he asked? My guess is yes. But, they might advise him not to.

[MarleyWasp]

I'd be disappointed to see him leave, but in every article I've read about him it's clear that he isn't the average Rugby player. He wants to travel the world and play at the highest level. I suspect he will be one of those players who doesn't stay anywhere for too long and ends up playing in all the major leagues around the world. He's only really been at Wasps for around 12 months, so it's not like we have invested the same level of resources into him as we did with Billy Vunipola for example.

I suspect that he will get plenty of excellent opportunities next season should he stay, especially if Charlie Matthews leaves, but if he moves to France, then given the amount of time he's spent away from home I wouldn't begrudge him the chance.

[BG]

My feeling is that he has nothing to gain by moving to a french club (how much 1st team time would he actually get) and everything to lose if he did.

He's much better off staying where he is and cementing himself as a 1st choice 2nd row for Wasps (if he isn't already when Launch isn't available) to develop his game even further.

If he does have another 12 months on his contract would that be tied to his academy contract. Can he be promoted (rightly so) to the snr squad for next season?

[backdoc]

If he is starting/playing that many games he should have a proper 1st team contract.

[JonnyD]

He can definitely be promoted early (Spink went up after one year, although this was probably due to homegrown credit access for the club but it can be done) and we might be wise to try and get him on a decent deal for two/three years maybe knowing that he’ll leave to France whenever the opportunity comes up.
He won’t want to waste much time though I’m sure having been a late starter like Rowlands with his uni commitments - despite his talent compare him to someone like Isiekwe who is a year younger with 60 Prem appearances, the majority of which have been starts. Flament will want to be playing as much as possible so I don’t think he’ll be off to France just yet

[Rossm]

Bobby Bridge reports as well:

https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/rugby/thibaud-flament-wasps-rugby-toulouse-18012934

Mostly a rehash of the AFP article.

[backdoc]

The answer for Wasps is for him to meet a gorgeous fertile local girl

[NellyWellyWaspy]

The answer for Wasps is for him to meet a gorgeous fertile local girl

In Coventry???

[backdoc]

A modern Lady Godiva?

[RogerE]

The answer for Wasps is for him to meet a gorgeous fertile local girl

Why does she need to be fertile?

I can see the advantage of a gorgeous non-fertile girl. 

[Rifleman Harris]

I don't know Tibo's preferences, but it need not necessarily be a gorgeous girl, fertile or not. A gorgeous person maybe?

[DGP Wasp]

A modern Lady Godiva?

Isn't that rhyming slang for Danny Cipriani??

[Neils]

A modern Lady Godiva?

Isn't that rhyming slang for Danny Cipriani??