Initially scheduled for January 2021, postponed several times, this trial before the Montpellier Criminal Court deprived the player of the opening match of the Six Nations Tournament with the Blues on Sunday against Italy.

However, this will not prevent him from playing with his club Montpellier in the match of the 17th day of the Top 14 against Pau on Saturday afternoon.

"It is an exemplary course for young people and I take it into account. He wants to clear his debt, close this chapter", had recognized the prosecutor, asking "18 months in prison with a suspended sentence and 15,000 euros fine" against the pillar.

An indictment followed to the letter by the court.

"There are things they blame me for that I didn't do but that's better than prison, let's say," reacted the player after the deliberation.

"He must forget, draw a line, we will not appeal, it is obvious", commented his lawyer, Me Marc Gallix, "and we will only talk about the rugby player."

"We have training at 2 p.m."

The co-defendant of Haouas, who appeared detained, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

A third man, a minor at the time, was referred to a juvenile judge.

Navy blue hooded jacket, pants and black surgical mask, the colossus (1.85 m for 125 kg) had arrived with his wife and the manager of his club, the former coach of the Blues Philippe Saint-André.

The pillar of the XV of France Mohamed Haouas, accompanied by the coach of Montpellier, Philippe Saint-André, awaits the opening of his trial for his alleged involvement in burglaries in 2014, on February 4, 2022 at the Palais de justice de Montpellier Pascal GUYOT AFP

Arrested in June 2014 and detained for four days as part of the investigation into a series of burglaries of tobacco shops in Montpellier between February and April of that year, the international was to answer for "thefts in meetings with breaking and entering" and of the "receiving" of a stolen car.

His DNA had been found on the rubber band of a headlamp left behind during one of the flights.

During the investigation, Haouas had however always denied the facts, only acknowledging that he had participated in the transport of some of the boxes of cigarettes stolen.

"+ Momo +, tell them to hurry up, we have training at 2:00 p.m.", launched Saint-André before the opening of the hearing, to try to cheer up his player.

"We ate at Coluche"

At the helm, Haouas preferred to remain silent on the facts, to "let his lawyer speak".

But he answered personality questions, explaining that he is married, has two children, a four-year-old son and a four-month-old daughter, and earns 15,000 euros a month as a professional rugby player.

Conceding "youthful mistakes", he returned to his childhood in the sensitive district of Petit Bard in Montpellier, where he had arrived with his parents, from the North: "Either you stay or you escape. (. ..) They tested me, I had neither a big brother nor a father, I had to defend myself".

The pillar of the XV of France Mohamed Haouas poses with his lawyer Marc Gallix, on February 4, 2022 upon his arrival at the Montpellier courthouse, before the opening of his trial for his alleged involvement in burglaries in 2014 Pascal GUYOT AFP

"We ate at Coluche (Editor's note: the Restos du Coeur), we lived in hostels, hotels, it was a bit complicated", recalled the player, still capable of bloodshed, like this direct shot at a Scot during the 2020 Tournament or this fight with a training partner in Montpellier in 2018.

Today, he is "proud" of the man he has become: "I struggled in life, I got over it, I'm proud to have built a family, a house", he said. - he insisted, questioned by his lawyer, Me Marc Gallix.

And on the rugby side, it's also "a pride" to wear the blue jersey for this Franco-Algerian kid.

"I'm the mascot in the locker room, I'm always in a good mood, even when things are not going well, I don't show it", explains the one whom his partners have nicknamed "Kubiac", this gluttonous giant of a TV series from the 1990s.

The French pillar Mohamed Haouas, supported by the 2nd line Bernard Le roux, tries to escape the tackle of the 2nd Italian line Niccolo Cannone, during the Six Nations Tournament, on February 9, 2020 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis Philippe LOPEZ AFP /Archives

Coming to rugby late, at 15, the former taekwondo follower is now trying to attract other young people to his sport: "If they need clothes, crampons, I pay for them, I wish I had known that."

© 2022 AFP