France international Thomas Ramos forgets he’s French when speaking to the referee in a Top14 clash last weekend.
The Six Nations may have been on a bye week, but that term does not exist in France. The Top14 regularly continues as normal during the international window with its hectic season. The league starts in late August and often doesn’t finish until June. The league has one of the longest and more intense schedules of all the professional rugby leagues.
Champions Toulouse played away to Pau last weekend. Pau came out as winners, shocking the champions to a 27-22 win at home. Thomas Ramos, whose primary position is fullback, was starting at out-half for Toulouse in this fixture. Ramos started out with the kicking duties but they were taken over by Zach Holmes later in the game.This was a massive win and upset by Pau.
Ramos, who was named in the France squad for the opening two rounds of the Six Nations, is yet to feature for France in the campaign. Toulouse beat La Rochelle in the finale of the league 18 points to 8. Ramos was named Player of the Match in the coveted fixture which rewarded Toulouse with the trophy, the Bouclier de Brennus. The game also featured an amazing drop goal from Springbok and international superstar, Cheslin Kolbe.
During the round 18 clash between Pau and Toulouse, the champions were awarded a penalty in which Ramos began speaking to the referee in english. One commenter on a reddit post of the video said “Funny as it is, this underlies the disadvantage non-English speaking nations can have in rugby. He can chat freely and build raport with the ref with ease once he switches to French, but at international level the odds are communication with officials is going to be very stunted.
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