Thomas DOMINGO

Biog of Thomas DOMINGO :

Thomas Domingo was named in the starting line up for the 2010 Six Nations tournament in the absence of Fabien Barcella. During the Grand Slam winning campaign (five selections, one start before the competition) he confirmed his place as a permanent fixture in the Tricolores front row… but it may all have seemed a little unreal to him nonetheless.
Moreover, during the tournament Domingo talked of being with “the pros” when referring to his teammates at Clermont, as though he himself was not really a “pro” yet. He had already turned professional, though, nearly four years before in the months following the Under 21 Rugby World Cup victory in June 2006, after being invited to train with the aforementioned “pros”. And heaven knows he sweated, hauling his 120-kilo body weight up and down the Puy-de-Dôme. Today he still remembers the “cross-country hauls with one bicycle for two”. “Vern Cotter would run after me saying, “If I catch you, you’re not going to hear the end of it!” ”
Cotter, the man who transformed Clermont, transformed Domingo, helping him to lose 18 kilos in six months (then gain five in muscle), turning a tight head prop into a loose head. And in the process he perhaps even gave him the taste for hard work! “In one way he surprises me,” testifies his brother, Fabien, a back-row player for CA Brive and nine years his elder. “When he was with the colts he had the potential, but he didn’t exploit it. So I would never have guessed that he would step up like that. (Before) he just went with the flow and played within his means.”

To properly understand this sea change in attitude it is necessary to turn the clocks back to a twist of fate. Domingo, who had only one selection to his name at Under 18 level, was called up to replace a replacement for the last match of the 2006 Under 21 Rugby World Cup. He recalls, “I arrive at Marcoussis and the other prop gets injured, so there I am in the starting line up! A lucky so and so!” And he laughs. It was, nevertheless, the start of an amazing journey for the player from Egletons in the Corrèze, built like a brick but with a tendency to be lazy (as he himself admits), whose first sports were football and judo.

From this martial art he has retained the strength on his feet needed for turning over opposition ball in the rucks. And turning over opposition ball is what he loves. He is nicknamed the wild boar, moreover. “I’m small (1.75m), and it’s only right that there should be a few advantages to this! I’m quicker to the ball. And as I have a low centre of gravity it’s hard to get me off.” Even so, his memories of stealing the ball whilst playing for France are few and far between. What he remembers of his first full internationals is that “you spend a lot of energy in the scrums… but a lot everywhere else as well”. For someone who admits there is room for improvement in his mobility, and has a taste for running rugby, it is very revealing.

During the 2010 Grand Slam (played in its entirety), Domingo was tremendous in the scrums but he was also involved in the loose, and strong in defence as well (one of the top ten French players for yardage, ball in hand, and one of the top ten French tacklers). To sum up, he was everywhere, “an angry little bull… or a little ball of energy” as his brother described him.

Domingo’s blossoming at Clermont matched that of his rise within the French set up. In Auvergne, Domingo has laid claim to the loose head prop position since 2009, losing in the final of the Top 14 the same year * before winning one year later against the same opposition, Perpignan, and their tight international tight head prop, Nicolas Mas. Up until then 2010 had been a vintage year. The month of June proved less so. Tired out by the over-long season, Domingo only played in one half of the overwhelming defeat against the Springboks (42-17) and did not play in the test against Argentina. Back in the French team for the November tests, Domingo contributed to the good performance of the scrum (a penalty try against Australia) but failed to perform, like the rest, in the open game. As Barcella was injured again, Domingo was now number one pick in his position and cemented his place in the 2011 Six Nations tournament, contributing all over the field - ball-carrying, powerful hand-off - even though the campaign was not one of France’s best

However on 2 April 2011, on return to his club, Domingo ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in open play, signalling the end to his run. The chances of playing in the World Cup seemed to have disappeared but on 11 May 2011 Marc Lièvremont nevertheless selected the loose-head prop from the Auvergne in his expanded 32-man squad, hoping for a quick recovery (six months convalescence before resuming running is the usual prognosis). However, despite intensive physiotherapy there was to be no miracle. On 21 August Thomas Domingo’s withdrawal from the squad was confirmed.

* He was also a replacement for the 2008 defeat against Toulouse.

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