Oita (Japan) (AFP)

In equal public mood, insensitive to the pressure and complete player at 20: the opener of the XV of France Roman Ntamack, shaped by his father Emile, fascinates those who saw him grow up, who recognize him as an android .

"I was really calm enough before starting the match, sure of our strength." The reaction of the French N.10 after the crucial success against Argentina at the opening of the World Cup (23-21) gives a glimpse of the man, or rather the humanoid, with the always impassive look.

How can a 20-year-old, at the end of his first full season with the professionals, remain so phlegmatic after his first match in a World Cup, decisive for qualification in the quarter-finals?

"It's not because he does not show you emotions that he has a big head or anything, he's a laid-back player who does not put pressure on himself", defends Maxime Médard, his teammate in Toulouse. "Frankly at his age, hat."

- Already a leader of the Blues -

For Yoann Huget, other stalwart of the Stade as the team of France, Ntamack is already, after some selections (11) only, a leader of the Blues. "A kid who has such a grip on a group at that age is rare, his age has nothing to do with his skills," says the winger, impressed by the one who has burned the stages since his nomination on the elite list in 2017, when he had never played in Top 14 yet.

An exhibition that was "complicated" to manage for the person but that Guy Novès, the coach of the time, assumes. "It seemed strange, but it allowed him to work calmly, to gain confidence," said, interviewed by AFP, the historic coach club Toulouse, who led Emile Ntamack for two decades (1988-2005 ).

"The talent, it had been detected for a long time, we saw him working every day not far from his father", adds Novès, party of the club in 2015, when Romain was only 16 years old, to take in hand the selection .

- Any small already ... -

Emile Ntamack is therefore the chief engineer of his son's automaton. "When he was little already, he was watching his father's videos, now he is looking at his own, it's a whole path already marked, it helps," said Michel Marfaing, director of the training center of Stade Toulousain, who also remember his meals at the Ntamack when Romain had not yet started rugby school. "As soon as the meal was over, he was going to hit it all alone, he always had a sporting object in his hands."

No wonder, with such filiation, to give the appearance of a machine in the field. "It's true, it sometimes gives the impression of being a robot," agrees Marfaing. "But it is the fact of having repeated and repeated the gestures: kicks in touch, the goal, the foot passes ... By dint of repeating, it becomes automatic."

Novès delivers a similar analysis. "His robotic attitude is a thoughtful attitude, it is the attitude of someone who has confidence in him, who concentrates, but with a concentration that does not inhibit."

- Novès: "It will still progress" -

And too bad for journalists, who prefer players with a little more spontaneity. But rest assured, Ntamack son, "mounted at the speed of a rocket", says Marfaing, Crabos (- 18 years) to the Toulouse group, still has weaknesses. Victim of a blow after his first blue capes at the Six Nations Tournament, he "moaned" to be a champion of France replacing, relegated to the bench at the end of the season, confirms Huget.

Above all, the opener still has the margin before being at the level of the best N.10 in the world. "There is a little bit of waste, but that's the difference between a robot and a human," says Marfaing.

For Novès, Ntamack "will still progress.The next bet Romain is to fully master his position in preparation for the World 2023," says the former coach. The machine is scheduled for the tournament in France, but that does not prevent to take even a little more advance in Japan.

© 2019 AFP