Former UBB rugby player Jean-Baptiste Dubié tells us about his new life in Australia

So close, so far simultaneously. Jean-Baptiste Duby left UBB two months ago, knowing the club would not keep him after the final “World Cup joker” challenge. Instead of looking for a new challenge in the TOP 14, the 34-year-old three-quarter center decided to do what he had always dreamed of: giving himself a very different challenge by moving to Australia.

“I found the most funny things in training”

Jean-Baptiste Dubié quickly dismissed the Australian elite of Super League clubs: “Teams are limited to four foreigners, they take pillars, or second rows or international stars, which means I'm not ticking any boxes!” So in Manly, Sydney, it's below the level where most players work for a living.. “In the first training session, we were on an artificial pitch and there were a hundred of us! At first I wondered what I was doing there.”

who also works for a swimwear brand – for which she was already an ambassador – Now training in the evenings after work, and in a less professional environment : “You'll find some good guys and others to play with friends and have a beer on the weekend. I've seen guys practice barefoot, others in Canadian plaid shirts. You want your experience, and you have it!”

An “old man” among the young

The championship only starts in April, and in the meantime, he's getting ready, and even if he doesn't have many illusions at the age of 34, he maintains the slimmest hope of catching the eye of a Super League team. The players around him were ten or twelve years younger. “You never know, it could be good!”

Check out all matches of his friends in UBB

The transition from player to UBB supporter in a matter of days clearly didn't faze him: “I'm enjoying it! I'm so happy to see a Mofana on fire that we've never seen before, to see Nicolas Depourtaire take it easy in the center of attack, or to see Maxime Lugu on fire.”. He makes sure not to miss any match of his former teammates. “I like it when they play at 9pm, I hated it when I was in France, now I enjoy it. It allows me to watch the matches at 7am, after my morning game, I have a mega breakfast in my bar near my house and I watch them. . Honestly, I can't regret it in this life!” With a dream in mind: “If they are champions of France, I will return to Bordeaux even if they don't want me, I promise you, I will enter the locker room. (Laughs)!”