Chess fanatic Damian Penaud is poised to become the king of French try-scorers and he could even pass the great Serge Blanco’s record at Twickenham – a prospect which won’t faze him in the slightest.
Bordeaux’s lethal finisher doesn’t feel pressure. He can occupy his mind with non-rugby matters, then flick a switch to go into match mode. Having recovered from the toe injury which meant he missed the Six Nations opener against Wales in Paris – which France won 43-0 – the 28-year-old has England in his sights again. If Steve Borthwick’s side think they can unsettle him on Saturday, they may be sorely mistaken.
For most players, a starting, starring role in Le Crunch, in front of 82,000 spectators and millions of TV viewers, would induce pre-match tension, but Penaud is different. His former Clermont Auvergne team-mate and England full-back Nick Abendanon explained, telling Mail Sport: ‘Damian is an interesting character.
‘He’ll be in the changing-room before a big game, two minutes before running out, on his phone playing Battle of the Clans or some game where he is building an empire, to take over the world. Then, next minute, he’ll be out on the field and he’ll score four or five tries. He has an extraordinary ability to compartmentalise, so he keeps the pressures of playing the game separate from his social life and his other interests.’
This assessment of Penaud’s unflappable temperament was echoed by Joe Worsley, who has spent years plotting to contain the flying wing, while coaching Bordeaux – when Penaud was still at Clermont – and Castres. According to the World Cup-winning ex-England flanker, the son of Brive legend and France fly-half Alain Penaud is a chip off the old block, in his ability to cope with the mental demands of his high-profile, high-stakes occupation.
‘He’s very relaxed and he’s not bothered at all by pressure,’ said Worsley. ‘He’ll be chatting away to the people around him on the pitch. They put a microphone on him for a Top 14 game – Racing v Bordeaux. It was quite funny listening to him. He missed a tackle on the Fijian winger, Habosi, and was joking about it straight after with the full-back, saying: ‘It was like trying to tackle a tree!
Damian Penaud is arguably the world’s in-form winger and is closing on a France try record
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Penaud scored two tries on his last visit to Twickenham and could inflict further damage
‘He’s a seriously relaxed soul and his dad is pretty chilled as well. I’ve chatted to him a few times. It’s obviously in the genes, as well as athletic ability and rugby nous. He has such good rugby knowledge because he grew up with the game, in a rugby heartland.’
Penaud’s availability for the trip to London is bad news for England. He is arguably the form wing in the world at present, having further enhanced his gold-plated reputation with a remarkable haul of nine tries in his last two appearances for Bordeaux, in the Champions Cup. Double hat-tricks are an extremely rare feat, but Penaud claimed one against the Sharks from South Africa.
Blanco’s national try-scoring record has stood for almost 34 years, but Penaud will overtake the iconic full-back soon enough. He scored two tries on his last outing at Twickenham – when France subjected England to a 53-10 humiliation – so there’s a chance he’ll be top of the Gallic finishers’ pile by Saturday night but, if not, the moment will surely come during this championship.
Having been born in Brive, Damian was still young when he left the town where his family’s name was etched in oval-ball folklore, in search of an opportunity at Clermont. He was initially deployed in midfield and he made an instant impression on Abendanon – who moved to the Massif Central club from Bath in 2014.
‘I still remember to this day when he had his first training session with us at Clermont, in the first team,’ said the 38-year-old, now a skills coach at Bayonne. ‘I had no absolutely no idea what position he was – I actually thought he was a back-rower.
‘He got the ball in the wide channel and I was trying to support him, but he just accelerated away as if it was nothing. I wouldn’t say I was slow – I’ve always been renowned for a bit of acceleration – but I couldn’t keep up with him in the slightest. Speed has always been a big asset of his.’
Penaud was mentored at Clermont by the club’s favourite son, Aurelien Rougerie, and alongside Abendanon and former England wing David Strettle, he played his part in helping the club to Top 14 title glory in 2017. Six years later, when he decided to move west to Bordeaux, the news prompted devastation among Clermont’s fabled ‘Yellow Army’ – and a realisation that chances of success in the immediate future may have gone west with him.
In new surroundings near the Atlantic coast, Penaud soon felt at home in a devastating back line and his game has gone from strength to strength. His six strikes against the Sharks took his overall tally for ‘UBB’ to 33 tries in 32 games; a staggering return.
Penaud scored a double hat-trick for Bordeaux against Sharks and has nine tries in two games
Penaud’s laid-back demeanour and off-beat character have created an impression that, as one Gallic observer put it, ‘he’s lost in his own world or he doesn’t care’. Of course, he does care deeply about the game, but he is not interested in fame and largely shuns public appearances. While he has a handful of sponsorship deals, in keeping with his exalted status across the Channel, he has made no attempt to match the commercial clout of Antoine Dupont or Romain Ntamack.
His main interest is chess. After his finishing feats against the Sharks, Bordeaux head coach Yannick Bru said: ‘He spends more time on chess tutorials than studying the game plan!’ Bru has also joked: ‘It is good to have one Damian (in the team) but not two!’ Penaud himself was modest about hitting the South Africans for six, saying: ‘Even the line (assistant) referee could have scored them, but as he doesn’t play, it was me.’
Having become a senior figure in the France squad, he is part of a big Bordeaux contingent, but good friends with Toulouse full-back Thomas Ramos. At the Six Nations launch event in Rome, Dupont quipped: ‘Damian could be better if he played for Toulouse.’
Heaven help rival defences if he becomes even better, because he is near-unplayable already. ‘His ability to beat someone one-on-one with his speed is quite extraordinary,’ said Abendanon. ‘And his reading of the game has become world-class.’
Worsley was similarly emphatic in his praise, adding: ‘His rugby nous is huge. Like a lot of the French team, he can recognise opportunities really well and react quickly. If he gets the ball in space, from a turnover or poor kick, he can tear you to pieces, frankly. He has such an incredible combination of strength and speed and is so good at scoring tries. He’s on fire at the moment.
The French winger has earned comparisons to Jonah Lomu and is close to the full package
‘I know he is nowhere near the size of Lomu, but he’s of that ilk. His acceleration and strength give him the ability to break tackles, against much stronger people. When he gets put into space, he can use his body to beat the first tackle, then he’s gone.
‘Penaud is nearly the full package. He’s a nightmare for opposition teams. He is playing with such a talented team around him and he is so potent, that he can take the chances which come along.’
England should be on a state of high alert, about the threat coming their way. And Blanco should be on alert too, about the prospect of his historic scoring mark being eclipsed by a modern-day wonder.
‘He’s going to be around a while longer, so he is going to smash a lot of records,’ said Worsley.
