Top 14: Toulon-Toulouse, a necessarily special reunion for Melvyn Jaminet

A feeling of unfinished business. Melvyn Jaminet, a late revelation in French rugby launched by Fabien Galthié while he was playing in Pro D2, left Perpignan in 2022 to join the great Stade Toulousain. A season later, in November 2023, he left the most successful club in France with a feeling of failure, having failed to make his mark with the Rouge et Noir, due to competition from Thomas Ramos and Angel Capuozzo. And signed up, during the season, with the club he started out with, RC Toulon.

Questioned by AFP, the 24-year-old fullback with 19 caps returned to his beginnings with the Var club. “I knew that Toulon wanted to recruit me and then I wanted to come home. It’s true that it’s a little hard to arrive during the season but there were also other late arrivals because of the World Cup so I wasn’t the only one, he confides . We exchanged messages with Pierre (Mignoni, the manager), he told me that he wanted me at the club, I knew that he followed my matches but it wasn't insistent either. Then I found childhood friends and my family here, it’s cool and relaxing to be able to see them after training to change a little from rugby.”

This Saturday evening, at the Vélodrome stadium, Jaminet will meet his former colleagues again. With appetite and without apprehension. "I can not wait to be there. It's obviously strange to face Toulouse because I was part of this squad at the start of the season but I can't wait to see the players again, whether on or off the pitch. I know it will go well and I hope it will be a very good match. And to add about this necessarily special context: “It’s true that we necessarily think about it more but, honestly, I don’t put more pressure on myself than that. I'm just looking forward to getting there and playing because it's an important game. We are fighting for qualification, nothing is certain, everything will be decided in the last matches so we have to play them at 200% and not give up so as not to make any missteps. We must stay on the same dynamic with strong defense, combat and a lot of intensity.”

For him, this match relocated to Marseille will necessarily be “a little special”. “I saw a photo again of my first time at the Vélodrome, I was a ball boy and here I am several years later, it’s... (he pauses). It's hard to realize it all the same because during the season we always have our heads in the handlebars, but seeing this photo again makes us aware of what we're doing, of achieving. It’s still beautiful.”

Be careful, however, not to get carried away by the context. “Honestly, I don’t really know what emotions this match will give me, there are so many memories,” he admits. I came back last season with Toulouse but going to the Vélodrome and playing with Toulon, being on this side... I'm really looking forward to it.

One thing is certain, his return to the RCT allowed him to regain confidence. And ambitions with the XV of France. The full-back admits that, in the Var, he was able to “regain a little visibility, confidence” by playing matches “more regularly” to show that he is “always present”. In his absence, Thomas Ramos has established himself in blue in the shoes of an indisputable holder. “It wasn’t easy to deal with but I understand. My performances were lower than what I could do and it showed. If players are better and fresher, it is necessarily normal that they play, I have no problem saying that,” underlines Melvyn Jaminet. And added on the competition with Ramos: “With Thomas, we always got along very well, we always exchanged, even if some think the opposite. Frankly, it's always been healthy competition. There were never any low blows or anything, it always went very well.”

Also read: Top 14: Toulon must “gain consistency because this team is not consistent at all”, warns Mignoni

Launched into the race for the final sprint, the RCT, fourth in the standings, has had a chaotic season, which the Toulon back recognizes. “I think the European Cup gave us a headache (four defeats in group play, editor's note), we must not hide it. Some already had to digest the World Cup, others had to adapt to the new squad and, after the first two defeats in the Champions Cup, we started to doubt, he says. We had difficulty getting back into the championship but I have the impression that we had a good start three weeks ago and I think we are off to a good start.” To try to secure a place in the final phase of the Top 14, which would be a first since 2018.