Romain MILLO-CHLUSKY

Biog of Romain MILLO-CHLUSKY :

By the end of 2009, Romain Millo-Chlusky appeared to have cemented his place in the French scrum. Coach Marc Lièvremont, speaking before the 2010 Six Nations tournament, confirmed the impression. “There are no other players like Romain,” he said. “Today, there’s no match for his strength, his technique in the contact area and his ability to win the ball back. He is powerful but extremely skilful.” But “Millo”, coming off the back of an autumn spent knocking holes in the World Champions, the Springboks, had to withdraw from the team suffering from a damaged shoulder. And so he missed out on the 2010 Grand Slam although he found some compensation in winning the European cup with Toulouse for the second time in his career (2005 and 2010, plus two finals on the losing side as replacement in 2004 and 2008).

In June, Lièvremont recalled Millo-Chlusky for the summer tour. But the big, blonde forward was exhausted having, like his teammates, played too much rugby, and he was swept aside by the Boks in the Cape (42-17), the same team he had shone against seven months earlier. It was his 14th selection since 2005 - which does not seem many when you see the way this 120 kg player built like a barn door clears out, tackles and drives. Injury has certainly held him back, but he perhaps also lacked a little something with the ball in hand to make his mark earlier at the highest level. “Now that he uses all his physical power and he is mentally hardened, he only has to develop his game, to get more involved - in the phases for example,” suggests the 118-cap Fabien Pelous, who took Millo-Chlusky under his wing at Toulouse, although at the same time barred the way, along with others (Thion, Nallet, Papé, Chabal), to the French team.

Millo-Chlusky, selected in November to play Fiji and then dropped for the next match before being recalled to cover for Nallet's absence against Australia, had certainly made his mark (yet another injury deprived him of the 2011 Six Nations tournament), but he is still not the first in his position (unlike at Toulouse). Diving head first (too often?) into the hidden tasks that suit him so well, he is a quiet man even if he is built like a grand piano. “The ball wasn’t his priority,” recalls his first coach for Massy colts. And it still isn’t. With his broad shoulders, developed swimming the crawl and the butterfly and playing water polo in his teens in the pool at Ris-Orangis, “Millo” concentrates first and foremost on the combat.

That is how Millo-Chlusky earned his place at Toulouse, arriving at the age of 18 from the Paris region, and how, from 2008, he fought his way back into the French team (after his first and only cap in 2005 against South Africa). And that is how he will probably retain his spot. When Lièvremont announced the squad for the 2011 World Cup on 11 May 2011, he talked about how much he would like to see the second row forward regain the form he had shown in November 2009 and how much he could bring to the team. At 28 years of age, Millo-Chlusky - who has just won his second French Championship title with Toulouse (after that of 2008) - could still have a very successful international career. Who now remembers that Lionel Nallet, who dominates the position today, only really became established at 31?