The Prodigal Sons
J26: AS Béziers Hérault @ Vannes
Fathers and sons playing together in professional sport is a relatively new phenomenon.
Modern science has enabled players’ careers to both last longer and start sooner. However, it still requires longevity to meet precociousness, plus a healthy dose of contractual luck.
Rugby’s highest profile patriarchal pairing, Andy and Owen Farrell, were teammates in the 2008 Saracens squad, although they never shared the pitch because of injuries. In the United States, there were two Hall of Famers, Ken Griffey Jr and Sr, representing the Seattle Mariners in 1990 and 1991.
Most recently LeBron James and his son, Bronny, have, thanks to a drop of nepotism coupled with the former’s freakish basketball immortality, started games together in the NBA.
However, it had never happened in professional rugby until this week, when Paga Tafili and Rayane Tafili, 39 and 22 respectively, were both selected on the bench for Vannes against Béziers.
It is no secret that Paga, a home favourite who is past his prime, was holding on for the chance to play with his son, and it’s special that Jean-Noël and the team were able to set it up. These are the kind of moments that can happen in the latter stages of a long season, and only when a club is in control of its destiny.
But although the familial story took the spotlight and drew the attention, there was a debutant on the other side of the pitch, winger Joachim Senga-Kouo. Having scored three tries in France’s U20 Six Nations Grand Slam, he was recently shortlisted for Player of the Tournament, and was making his professional debut Friday evening.
So hopes were high for the 18-year-old, and by the time the game was over, it would be him who grabbed all the headlines.
Despite the injection of youth into the team, Vannes didn’t mess around at first, heading straight to the trusty pick-and-goes for the first try. It was their classic model of being physical, winning penalties, and kicking to the corner, only to once again be physical, dominate mauls, and score tries. Not long after, Francisco Gorrissen somehow found himself on the wing, splashing over awkwardly, unfamiliar with the amount of space in front of him.
While there was a feeding of the forwards, you got the sense they wanted to give their young star on the wing a chance.
Early on in the game they found Senga-Kouo often. First he earned some hard inside yards, but then, after a lineout on the five-metre line, he finished for his first professional try on an overlap in the opposite corner, the defenders could only brush his ankles as they fell into touch.
He continued to hunt for the ball, switching wings and searching for space in the centre channels. Luckily, there was a lot of it to go around. Vannes held onto everything, and ran it from everywhere. Senga-Kouo, usually a full back, might have wanted a chance to counter, but Béziers didn’t have enough ball to give him opportunities from deep.
The winger soon showed what he could do when challenged. Receiving the ball in a difficult situation, stood still and with defenders swarming, he instinctively beat one man inside, and then set up the next defender with a sidestep through the sliver of a gap that remained, breaking free and finishing under the posts. By the time the first half ended, Vannes were 26 points up and looked dominant.
There was no let-up in the opening period of the second half, where three more tries came in quick succession. These came first from Hugo Djehi at close range, then an easy overlap from Paul Surano, and finally the third lineout try in as many weeks from a third different hooker when James O’Reilly scored from the maul.
However, the hat-trick was what everyone was waiting for, and it came from the best sequence of the night. A kick over the top by Thibault Debaes was recovered with a stretch, and he spotted Senga-Kouo in his periphery running a line that showed his smarts, strength, and speed.
The first two tries were the product of Vannes feeding their young flame, like lit tinder cupped in a hand, each forced overlap and inside ball was a breath pushing more life into the blaze. This finish was the resulting fire, as he dived over in the stadium where he spent his youth watching games, marking one of his few appearances here before he joins Pau at the beginning of next season.
At 50-0 down with twenty minutes to go, it was hard not to feel sorry for the Béziers team.
What an awful cauldron they were asked to dive into. There were nine overwhelmed young players, several making their professional debuts, thrown into a game which had emotional heft from the father and son reunion, a mercurial talent on debut, and enough veterans who knew how to keep their heads down. “The scoreline is irrelevant. We know Béziers weren’t at their best tonight,” Jean-Noël Spitzer said afterwards.
There was still time for the landmark moment, the introduction of Paga and Rayane Tafili in a first for professional rugby. As they got warmed-up and ran on, it seemed like they were both on the verge of tears, and the stadium stopped for a standing ovation.
In his first appearance Rayane carried well, showed deft hands, and did his job at the set piece. However, the emotion might have got the better of the elder Tafili, as Paga was shown a yellow card after what looked like a testing ten-minute spell. His grade for the game didn’t matter though, he said afterwards, “I’m proud. I only realised what was happening during the warm-up. After this match with Rayane, it makes me want to continue playing rugby, yet my body is getting old. It’s time to make way for the younger generation.”
Though the focus was on Senga-Kouo and the introduction of Paga and Rayane Tafili, there were still some fantastic finishing turns from Marin Boulier, who scorched around the outside of everyone untouched, and Robin Taccola, whose full-length dive proved to be the final flourish on the night.
The final result: 71 points scored and zero conceded. There are some nights that belong to certain teams, and from start to finish, this was Vannes’. It also feels like a maturing moment from an emotional perspective, with the veterans, four of whom have captained Vannes this season, leading by example and pushing young lads like Rayane Tafili, Taccola and Senga-Kouo forward.
It was a fantastic way to use the final weeks to bolster the fraternal, or in these cases paternal, feeling. Any edge they can get in the playoffs, or anything they can do to strengthen their resolve, is worth it.
In what has been a season of thrashings, this was the most vicious, a breathless, brilliant display of superiority from a team which, like their young star Joachim Senga-Kouo, should be bound for the Top 14 next season.