Champions Cup: Romain Ntamack, a fly-half with a sense of timing
The adversary is often the best judge. Nicknamed “the quiet facilitator” (“the silent entertainer”) by the English press (Charlie Morgan in The Telegraph Rugby Podcast), Romain Ntamack is the metronome of the Toulouse game. Away from the field for eight months after a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee suffered in August 2023, he returned right on time, in April, to regain rhythm and gradually reach his best level before the decisive deadlines at the end of season. Starting with the reception of Harlequins on Sunday May 5, at the Toulouse Stadium for the Champions Cup semi-final (at 4 p.m. live on France 2 and france.tv)
Champions Cup: Toulouse prepares for the shock
Tomorrow, Stade Toulousain will face Harlequins in the Champions Cup semi-final at the Stadium. For the tenth consecutive time, Antoine Dupont and his teammates will try to reach the final against a team playing in their first semi-final.
Romain Ntamack is the Toulouse Chronos : master of time, he is an infallible regulator and a formidable game accelerator. In just a few weeks, since his return against Pau on March 30, the flyhalf seems to have found all his bearings. “It is true that my services are of good quality compared to the seriousness of my injury and the length of my absenceconfided Romain Ntamack in an interview with Olympic Midday this week. The work done pays off. I’m almost surprised at myself. I imagined everything would take longer.”
Against Harlequins, he will be associated with Antoine Dupont, a duo who took the French team to the Grand Slam in 2022 and Stade Toulouse to the national coronation last year. “We quickly found each otherattested Antoine Dupont himself, at a press conference on April 4. It’s as if we had never gotten lost, it reassured us. (…) We know the quality that Romain has, we also know his composure and his ability to be very present in the matches that count.” The two players share an extraordinary knowledge of the game, alternating between impeccable mastery of their score and brilliant improvisation sequences. It was not the scrum half’s move to the French rugby sevens team that disrupted this duo’s bearings.
Having entered less than half an hour for his return to competition, against Pau on March 30, Romain Ntamack then continued his starts at home : against Racing 92 in the Top 14, then against Exeter and Racing 92 again in the Champions Cup. Three almost full matches, with 70 minutes of play each time, for three victories and a try against Exeter, symbolic of his return to form.
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