Matthieu Jalibert will forever remember the evening of 30th November, 2024. Not the score of the match, won by Bordeaux against Montpellier thanks to three penalties from Maxime Lucu – the first match without a try in the Top 14 in almost two years – played in thick fog.
"The match will not go down in history," conceded Jalibert. No, what the fly-half will remember is the reaction of the supporters afterwards. When he took the microphone from the Stade Chaban-Delmas announcer to address the 32,000 Bordeaux supporters. "It's was signed a few weeks ago, but I was waiting for the right moment because I wanted to share it with you first," he revealed, confirming the extension of his contract until 2028, a contract that has already taken in 127 matches. "Here it is, an exclusive in the name of all the love you give us, in the name of the whole team. Thank you for everything, thank you for the support, thank you for your messages and see you soon!"
International blues
This happy episode closed the loop filled with doubts following an Autumn Nations Series which saw him suddenly leave the France squad on the eve of their second match of the campaign against New Zealand. Head coach Fabien Galthié hadn't started Jalibert in their previous match against Japan, and neither did he plan on doing so against New Zealand - despite his chosen ten, Thomas Ramos, being primarily a fullback. Jalibert asked the coaching staff not to name him on the bench, packed his bags and went home.
Jalibert's reaction did attract some sympathy from those people who couldn't comprehend arguably the Top 14's in-form fly-half not starting - especially in the absence of the injured Romain Ntamack - after an exceptional start to the season with Bordeaux. For his part, Galthié did not dispel any doubts when he abruptly declared at a press conference: "It's his choice. Everyone experiences their emotions, everyone is free to share them. We need determination, strong players. Up until now, he has always given the best of himself. He will continue in the French team... if he wishes. It's up to him to make that decision."
While Les Bleus enjoyed a third straight victory of the series against Argentina, Jalibert was featuring for his club against Vannes. It did't serve to take his mind off things, however, since he was forced to come off after only ten minutes of play following an injury suffered by a heavy hit from former England and Lions prop Mako Vunipola in the second minute. Although taken off early, he nevertheless saw his injury progress favourably, allowing his return as a starter over the weekend against Montpellier.
The opportunity to feature against Les Cistes was too good to miss for Jalibert: a chance to do his thing on the field, then to have his say on an issue that had created a huge number of unwanted headlines.
"It was a complicated period, not easy to manage, but that's part of high-level sport," is how Jalibert put it. "Everything can't always go in the right direction. That's how it is. I expressed things to Fabien [Galthié] about a certain malaise that I had, and I was offered to take a break and return to Bordeaux, which I accepted."
In this current France set-up, there is the mental preparation unit set up by the federation that Jalibert made use of. "We have a unit to talk about our frustrations, our disappointments, our discomfort... it's made for that. What I regret is that [what I said] got back to Fabien because I wanted to wait until the end of the [campaign] to talk to him about it," the 34-cap Jalibert told Sud-Ouest ."We talk a lot about wellbeing and mental health, and sometimes you have to know when to say stop when there is too much. For me, I think, it was the best option and it did me good."
From then on, we understand better why Galthié tried to put out the fire by saying: "there is no controversy surrounding Matthieu Jalibert. Matthieu needed to recover. I talk to him, we talk to him."
Post-World Cup feeling
"Since the World Cup, I felt like I didn't have his trust," Jalibert explained. "At the start of the season, I felt capable of taking on the role, but that wasn't the case. There were also some external problems, but they aren't part of the French team. I needed to tell him all that, I think he understood, he saw that I was exhausted. Since he wasn't counting on me against the All Blacks and Argentina, he suggested I return to Bordeaux to recover.
"I have not distanced myself from the French team, I am still a player of the French team and if I am called upon, I would join up with the team with the greatest pleasure."
Jalibert's frankness had a positive effect and provoked some meaningful responses, like the one from Sébastien Chabal, the former France forward. "It's courageous and it's good that players of this level are laying themselves bare," he said on television. "He wasn't doing well mentally, he was certainly overworked [...] he thought he wasn't going to serve this French team and he said so. It's courageous, we must congratulate him, really, for this act and for admitting it, for telling us all, because I think that there are many players in all sports who are sometimes on the verge of breaking down."
Moving on
"What is important is that Fabien knows what I told him," emphasised Jalibert. "We talked, we discussed it for several minutes. I told him what I felt, what was on my mind since the World Cup. There is no problem with Fabien and as I said, I remain a player of the French team and I am ready to be available for the next gatherings."
That said, the boil having been lanced and everything put on the table, Jalibert now hopes to be able to move on and for the media machine to stop getting carried away with speculation.
"It annoys me. I've learned to deal with it," he admitted in Sud-Ouest . "I know that I'm a divisive character. It makes people talk a lot about the slightest thing I do. But what annoys me the most is that people can accuse me of false things that aren't me. It was said that I behaved inappropriately in the French team. That's completely false. I've always given 100% of myself and I've always made sure to behave in the best possible way on and off the pitch.
"People criticise my family for victimising me. I want to reassure everyone that no one around me is victimising me. People mostly talk without knowing the context and always try to make me out to be a bad person. I'm still a human being, I have emotions, I'm not a robot. Sometimes I get to the end of my tether and I need to express things with certain people. Fabien understood that. But it wasn't worth all the controversy and noise around it."
