SHY GUY
DAMIAN PENAUD doesn’t like doing interviews but fortunately there are enough anecdotes around to flesh out the most exciting young threequarter in French rugby.
What’s clear is that were the 23-year-old French wing any more laid-back he’d be horizontal. One of his early mentors at Clermont, Aurélien Rougerie, recalled his first impressions of Penaud: “He would arrive late to training, wearing flip-flops and with one eye still closed. He was ridiculously talented but he wasn’t making the most of his opportunity.”
Another Clermont team-mate, Yohan Beheregaray, diplomatically described Penaud as “not a morning person”. He recalls how he would “saunter into training in his flip-flops, in the nick of time”. Once on the pitch Penaud would come into conflict with Camille Lopez for forgetting the calls for backs’ moves.
Was it insouciance
