Maxime Médard knows a thunderous start to the season whether in club with Toulouse or with the XV of France where he was a Blues most prominent despite the loss to the Springboks. The French back, long disturbed by injuries is back to business and seems to enjoy its current form.

At 32, Maxime Médard, one of the main satisfactions of the first test-match of the XV of France, against South Africa (defeat 29-26), seems to live a second youth at the Stade Toulousain where he s flourishes in a new role of elder: "I open up a little more to people."

However, he is cautious about his future in the XV of France, where the ups and downs he has known have taught him to "take a step back," he told AFP before face Argentina on Saturday.

Q: You play big Saturday. Despite everything, you seemed to play without pressure ...

A: "I had put pressure on myself, and after the match and the next day all the stress went down again, I knew I was waiting for it but I was not focused on it. I did not want to go for a draw, I got into the match quickly, raises helped me to be good. "

Q : What do you attribute your current good pass to?

A: "The good form of Toulouse is playing, I'm good, I've done good things, I've got a new role at the stadium, I'm opening up a little more to people, I'm going to say things to the group. I think that with age I know what is expected of me, then I take a step back ... In 2015, I focused so much on going to the World Cup that finally I did not go there I thought only of that and I was wrong: when you focus on something, you force things, you stay locked in your path, your goals. Of course, the 2019 World Cup is really important, but it's still a long way away, so I live from day to day. "

Q : Do you feel legitimate in blue, where you are one of the older ones?

A: "During the first two weeks (of the rally), I observed, talked, but less because there are leaders already well identified.I speak when I am asked to speak and I feel And when I come here, I always have the spirit of the beginner It's always good to be in Marcoussis, in the France team, it is exceptional to represent your country. "

Q: You had your first selection in June for two years, after a year and a half of absence from November 2014 to June 2016 ...

A: "(He cuts) A lot of physical glitches prevented me from going on, from honoring convocations, I do not think I had crossed the desert, if I farted, it's like that. have no regrets about my career. "

Q: Did not you fall asleep on your laurels after the 2011 World Cup?

A: "I'm coming back from the World Cup with a bone edema to a toe that makes me play on one leg.At the next Tournament, I get injured on one knee: a year of absence, then I come back, but I do not I did not give satisfaction to Philippe Saint-André and Patrice Lagisquet I can understand it but there are no regrets to have I had a difficult pass like any player. "

Q: But we can not help thinking that you could have made a bigger international career ...

A: "What is a bigger career? More selections in the French team? What did I do? I wanted to go over 50 because you got into a very closed circle. I'm at 51. Have 60/70 / 80/100 selections ... it's for papers, one is huge, 50 is great, I think it's more important to be accomplished as a man than to have a lot of selections . "

Q : You seem more physically sharpened than a few years ago ...

A: "Yes, I wanted to lose some weight because the kids are running very fast now, I have to hang in there (laughs), my hygiene is now important in my vision as a top athlete. very little, I eat well, I'm daddy, a lot of things make me more careful in the end, I'm not good if I'm not doing sport, even my wife is baiting me, I love running, pushing my body to the maximum. "