Even the linesmen validate Matthis Lebel's style.

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Frédéric Scheiber / AFP

  • Sunday against Stade Français, Matthis Lebel scored his seventh and eighth tries this season in the Top 14.

  • On Monday, the young winger from Stade Toulousain was not selected by Fabien Galthié for the VI Nations Tournament.

  • The Gers patient assumes his new status in front of the press and in the field.

The prophecy has not yet been fulfilled.

"Matthis Lebel will be international in not long, and it will be for a long time," assured Ugo Mola, manager of Stade Toulousain, in October.

Since then, the young 21-year-old winger has flirted with the XV of France, without concluding, staying out of the group during the Fall Cup matches against Italy and then England.

And he does not appear in the list of the 37 summoned for the hypothetical upcoming VI Nations Tournament.

“At my post, there are still excellent players in France,” calmly recalled the double U20 world champion (2018 and 2019) on Sunday evening, at the end of the Rouge et Noir recital against the Stade Français (48-24 ), a personal double.

One way to play down his future absence from a list made public on Monday, where Damian Penaud (Clermont), Gabin Villière (Toulon), Teddy Thomas and Donovan Taofifenua (Racing 92) were preferred to him.

𝐋𝐞 𝐫𝐞́𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞́ 𝐝𝐮 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐨 ⚡️



7️⃣ tries registered 🏉 Improved


victory 🔝


1st at home achieved in 2021 🎆



🎬 Relive all the highlights of the #STSFP match 🔽https: //t.co/zs3dNJHjy8

- Stade Toulousain (@StadeToulousain) January 11, 2021

The best scorer in the Top 14 (eight after 14 days) must therefore again pass his turn in Blue.

In Toulouse, on the other hand, even when all the wingers are available, including the most seasoned (Médard, Huget), there are Kolbe and Lebel, then the others.

Almost two and a half years after his debut in Red and Black, the Gersois has grown physically, he moves better on the field and he has above all kept his formidable instinct as a finisher which makes him an indisputable holder this season in the new leader of the Top 14.

"I do not cross the field"

“Top scorer in the championship?

It's nice, it's for the stats, smiles Lebel, as comfortable behind a microphone as the ball in hand.

You might write something after.

I do not cross the field either.

There are often trials offered.

I'm happy to serve the team in my own way.

“And his“ way ”is an impressive boost and speed, which convinced the Stadium to extend it this fall, until 2023.

While he will be turning 22 in two months, Lebel is no longer the youngster who asks permission to sit next to the big guys in the pros' locker room.

Left free by a departing player, he thus recovered the number 32, now attached to all his training equipment.

“As soon as I had the opportunity, I took it.

It's good to always remember where I'm from.

“That is to say from Lombez-Samatan, an emblematic club of the Gascon region today in Federal 2, of which his father Mickaël, also passed through Auch, had the best days before becoming the coach.

Even if it isn't yet, Mola's prophecy will eventually come true.

And the Gers will have one more representative in the French team after Grégory Alldritt, Anthony Jelonch, Pierre Bourgarit and the high-Pyrenean “border” Antoine Dupont.

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