In the collective imagination, the idea we have of a rugby player is rather that of a mirror cabinet, coupled with a bon vivant, and adorned why not with a South-West accent . But Maxime Médard, with his 63 selections for the French team and his sensitive personality, breaks this cliché. In “The Giants of Rugby”, a podcast produced by Europe 1 studio, Médard talks about his experience during the 2019 World Cup in Japan, but also about his 10-year career with the national team.
In 2019, when he was selected for the Rugby World Cup in Japan, Maxime Médard was proud, “it’s the ultimate dream of an athlete”, he remembers in the podcast “The Giants of Rugby”. This is not his first World Cup because he already played in the 2011 World Cup, in the ranks of coach Marc Lièvremont, but he knows that it will be his last. “I was very diligent because I really wanted to do something at this World Cup,” he says.
A very spiritual free time
Accompanied by his daughter and his wife, he flew to Japan, the country of Zen and meditation. Before the quarter-final against Wales, the Blues are staying in the small town of Fujiyoshida, at the foot of Mount Fuji… but also a stone’s throw from the Fuji Q-Highland amusement park. Some players go there every day to relieve the pressure.
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But Maxime Médard prefers temples and gardens, which allow him to “meditate, to be in harmony with myself,” he explains. The French player needs calm, even more than his teammates, since this is his last competition. He therefore threw himself into meditation, and everything that went with it: in his luggage, in addition to his crampons, Médard took his “juice machine”.
Buying your vegetables: an obstacle course
He then scours Japanese markets in search of vegetables, a task more complex than it seems. “It’s really very complicated to find vegetables in Japan,” he says in the podcast “The Giants of Rugby”. “And it’s super expensive. So you had to first find them, then speak in English, French, Japanese… do whatever you could…”
Meditation, detox juice, discovery of Japanese culture and time with family, Maxime Médard, then dean of the French XV, perfectly took on his role of “wise man” and big brother to the young recruits. Between French rugby in crisis, complicated group matches, unprecedented program changes in the organization of a World Cup, and personal ambitions, Maxime Médard looks back on his 2019 World Cup in “The Giants of Rugby”, a original podcast produced by Europe 1 Studio.