They are often called « the old stagers ». Those players protected from injury by the rugby gods. The ones who can still pass the « bronco » tests and last 80 minutes of a fiercely contested match. While others, less blessed, have no choice but to watch from the corner of the clubhouse bar, Coke (or something else…) in hand. Mind you, that is fine too.
In the brand-new arena of Rémy-Goalard in Soustons, Aurélien Sourrouille still looks young amid the youngsters who have come through the club’s mini-rugby set-up or arrived from nearby. He himself does not see the gap. « I don’t even think about it. Once you’re on the pitch, we’re all pulling in the same direction. I give them some, they give me some back, that’s the game », smiles the Mont-de-Marsan native.
Only the beard, a touch greying now, has changed. The smile, the muscles, the aura and the intelligence are all still there. At almost 42, the centre is enjoying a genuine second youth in the Landes. Precious to the life of a squad but also as effective as ever, Sourrouille fully intends to guide ASS to survival in Fédérale 1 this season. « Our fate is still in our own hands. It would be great to stay in this division, we have a super group ».
Nothing but good memories
For him, rugby was not born of a dream of a career. It was a given. At Stade Montois, he simply went with the flow. « At school, all my mates played rugby. So I followed my mates. » His father played too, until a serious car accident put an end to his career.
The 40-something is part of the golden generation of Mont-de-Marsan, carried by Julien Tastet, Rémi Talès, Laurent Cabarry and Romain Cabannes. His qualities took him as far as Pro D2. Despite promotion to Top 14 (2008), his contract with the Yellow and Blacks was not renewed. A frustration. But not an end in itself. « It was a disappointment. I had a year of contract left. But maybe I wasn’t ready », he analyses with hindsight. Very quickly, his life ran to two rhythms. That of an employee and that of a player. When he left Mont-de-Marsan for Valence d’Agen, then Blagnac, he discovered the daily routine so many amateur players know: work in the morning and train in the evening.
At Blagnac, the rugby player joined the town hall to look after sport and green spaces. Rugby then became a passion organised around the job. « I went back down a level but I found myself some mates and I really enjoyed myself on the pitch ». Then came the call from Auch, a historic and ambitious club, ready to return to Pro D2. He took on the adventure in the Gers. « I worked from 6am to 1pm in Blagnac, then I went off to train in Auch. It was only a forty-minute drive ». Those years will stay with him. Even if the memory of an insolvency filing remains painful. « Paradoxically, it was more complicated for the professional players than for me, because I had a job on the side. We never gave up on anything. On a human level, it was very powerful. »
So Auch started again from scratch. Sourrouille, for his part, stayed at the club. Watched the young players grow. He racked up promotions and finished as a French champion. In the middle of that almost “artisanal” journey, there was an enchanted interlude with the France sevens team. « It made me progress enormously in technical terms. It was a superb discovery », recalls the Soustons three-quarter.
Back in the Landes, the Mont-de-Marsan man found a new family at Soustons. Still with the same enjoyment, and that curiosity which led him to try refereeing. « I wanted to understand how referees think », he smiles. The experience was brief but rewarding. « Rugby is a huge passion. I love discovering all its facets. »
There isn't much you can do… You have to be a bit lucky, because I haven't had many physical problems in my career. Nothing very serious, at least. And then I look after myself, I have a better lifestyle than players of the old days (laughs). We played against Layrac the other day, and they had players over 40 as well. I'm not an exception
At 42, Aurélien Sourrouille is still playing. Because he can. Because his body still answers and the enjoyment is intact. « As long as I feel good, I want to carry on. » While he will not risk the comparison with rugby giant Ma’a Nonu, the Landes man gives us his « secrets » of preservation. « There isn’t much you can do… You have to be a bit lucky, because I haven’t had many physical problems in my career. Nothing very serious, at least. And then I look after myself, I have a better lifestyle than players of the old days (laughs). We played against Layrac the other day, and they had players over 40 as well. I’m not an exception », he explains humbly.
Humble… but also a serious wind-up merchant, all the more so with those who had not been born when he started out. « I’m the first to have a dig at them. And when you wind people up, you have to be able to take it back! There’s a very good group, we all get on really well. So obviously I don’t have the same interests as the young lads. And they don’t have mine either. But they teach me things and I let them in on a few old-timer tricks », laughs the man himself down the line.
Romain Chabat, an experienced centre at Soustons, has had the pleasure of running into Sourrouille again. The two players had met 15 years earlier. “I met him in August 2011, with the France development sevens team. It was for a tournament in Prague. I was 22, he was 27. We won the competition. He was the senior man in the group, he already had that leader’s soul. So I find him again 15 years later at Soustons, to my great delight“, begins the other senior figure in the Landes squad.
He goes on: “We had only spent one week together but I had nothing but good memories of him. I found the same man, with the same temperament. And above all, he still has that reassuring word. In the good times as in the bad, his voice carries a lot of weight. His rugby qualities have not changed, he’s a hitter, a big defender. He leaves his mark on certain opponents“.
During the season, we went on a backs' trip to Logroño, in Spain, for three days. He was the worst of the lot! He was the one egging the young lads on to do daft things and to keep the party going until goodness knows what time in the morning! We're very lucky to have him. He must think the same as me, that age is just a number
“Off the pitch, he impresses me. He’s a bit like me in his head, we feel like we’re 20. During the season, we went on a backs’ trip to Logroño, in Spain, for three days. He was the worst of the lot! He was the one egging the young lads on to do daft things and to keep the party going until goodness knows what time in the morning! We’re very lucky to have him. He must think the same as me, that age is just a number“, concludes Romain Chabat.
And indeed. Beyond his passion for the oval ball, Aurélien Sourrouille says he is still ready, physically and mentally, to carry on. « As long as I feel good and I’m enjoying it, I want to carry on. I also lend a hand at the mini-rugby section when needed. But as things stand, I’m thinking more about carrying on playing than about coaching ». You will have gathered as much: the old stager is going to keep on going out on rugby pitches, because that flame which drives him is a long way from going out.
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