At 36, Camille Lopez played the last match of her career on Friday, with this Bayonne team who managed to climb to the semi-finals. The opener passed by Bordeaux-Bègles, Perpignan and Clermont will have a magnificent memory of his adventure at rowing.
There were tears on the face Camille Lopez Friday at the Groupama Stadium in Lyon after the defeat of Bayonne against Toulouse (32-25) in the semi-finals of the Top 14. Not only because of the elimination at the gates of the Stade de France, but also because the 36-year-old opener had just played the latest match in his career. As of April, the player had entrusted his desire to stop his career a year before the end of his contract, to join the rowing staff, which will be done next season.
After sixteen years with the pros and 350 games played, from Bordeaux-Bègles to Bayonne via Perpignan and Clermont, the native of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques therefore stops there, and the emotion was on Friday evening, as he entrusted to the microphone of
Canal +Surrounded by his children: “I don’t know if I still realize, because it’s fresh. There is bound to be lots of things that come back in mind, because, that’s it, it’s over, I will not put the crampons again to play. There are lots of things that will miss me because it was most of my life. It’s an end. It was necessary one day that it stops, it’s today. »»
28 selections and a Brennus for Lopez
It ends with a defeat, but Camille Lopez does not want to have any regrets: “It’s a great outing, because coming to the semi-finals with rowing, it was something incredible. I am proud of guys, because they made a funny game, even if in the end the scoring is a bit heavy. We created opportunities, we missed a little ammunition in their brand area. But we showed a beautiful face, we can be proud of our season. »»
After eight seasons spent in Clermont, Camille Lopez had chosen to return to Bayonne in 2022, and he is proud of this three -year adventure at rowing: “This season will have a huge place, because we had made the choice with my wife and my children to return to the Basque Country, our native land. Three years have happened and we did magnificent things with this club and an incredible audience. This season, we brought the supporters to Lyon, they pushed to the end, it is our greatest pride. These three seasons with rowing will remain engraved. »»
Selected 28 times in the French team between 2013 and 2019, during a period which was not the most beautiful for the Blues (a third place at the 2017 6 Nations Tournament and a quarter -final at the 2019 World Cup for best results), Camille Lopez will have won the two trophies which are at her record in the jersey of Clermont: the Brennus 2017 shield and the European Challenge 2019. French of the last two decades which bows out.
