After fifteen seasons at the highest level and three hundred team sheets, RC Vannes lock Fabrice Metz is bowing out. From the Racing academy to la Rabine by way of Oyonnax and Section Paloise, the Alsatian colossus has been through it all: Espoirs titles, sudden-death play-offs, grim seasons, the birth of his children in Béarn. As he switches for good to his firewood business, he looks back for itsrugby on a career built on graft. No regrets, no bitterness, plenty of gratitude.
« I’m not sad that it’s over, I’m just so happy to have lived it. » Does that apply to you?
Yes, I’m very, very proud of the journey I’ve made, because I left my native Alsace, I didn’t necessarily have the level people expected, but it was Alain Gazon who rang me to say « I think you’ve got huge potential, do you fancy coming to the Racing academy? » From the moment my parents came with me to visit the facilities, to find the right school to carry on my joinery and cabinetmaking qualification, once all those boxes had been ticked, my parents told me « it’s your decision, if you want to go, you go, but we don’t want to hear you regretting your choice. » I thought about it for a bit, I packed my things and off I went.
Racing, where you were born into the top level?
Racing made me as a professional rugby player, but also as a man, through all the good things I experienced there. It allowed me to build myself, to forge myself. To be more of a fighter and to know exactly where I wanted to go. I spent some very good years there with Patrice Collazo, we worked a lot together, he believed in me a great deal, we became French Espoirs champions with Patrice and then, in 2011, I made my first team sheet with the pro squad. I only want to keep the positives from Racing. I spent some wonderful years there. As soon as I announced I was going to stop, I immediately sent a message to Patrice Collazo and Jacky Lorenzetti to thank them for everything they had done for me, because if I’m here today, it’s largely down to them.
In fact, you’ve been through a lot of extreme clubs: Racing, Paris, extreme. Oyonnax, extreme. Pau, extreme. And Vannes…
I don’t know if I’m an extreme player, but when I left Racing for Oyonnax, I went into a project where I’d told myself I had to make life hard for myself in order to succeed, I had to bounce back. My game time had been shrinking more and more, and if I was going to leave anyway, I might as well join Olivier Azam, who had told me he wanted me; he had the same philosophy as Patrice Collazo, and it was a choice that paid off. It relaunched my career. It’s a choice I don’t regret, I had a good time at Oyonnax despite the club going down. I really loved that region and that club.
And then eight seasons at Section Paloise…
I think it was in 2019, we absolutely had to win with a bonus point to avoid going down to Pro D2 – so I’ll have known that kind of match too. I’ll also have known the Section’s good days, days that were a little less glorious, but days that mattered in the building of the club, and I think I left a good mark there, so thank you for trusting me for so long. I can’t deny it, I left there with two births to my name! Béarn…
Jean-Noël Spitzer, your coach at Vannes, explained that your signing was about passing things on and about a culture of big matches…
Those were very kind words about me, two years ago. My role, today, is to pass things on. I’ll name them: Karim Ghezal, Antoine Battut, François Van der Merwe, all the old hands at Racing, Julien Brugnault – they helped me a great deal right at the start. I think we, the senior men, have that role, that duty to pass things on. To guide the young lads a little, to put them on the right track. I’m trying to give that back at the end of my career.
Can you swim? A quick word about the Bretons?
They work hard, they don’t talk much, they’re humble. They’re huge, huge grafters, loyal people. Back when I was at the Racing academy I already had an apprenticeship supervisor who came from Brittany, he was a bit like me, a grafter, not one for talking, and in the end I arrived in Brittany and he was the first to write to me saying « you’ll see, you’re going to find the same values you knew in Alsace ». He wasn’t wrong. It’s an extraordinary region, an extraordinary département, an extraordinary town. Thank you for the welcome. It’s just extraordinary.
What’s next? Wood?
I’m passionate about wood, about machines, so the logical next step was to build a business that suited me. Since March 2016, that’s 10 years now and I’m very proud of it, I’ve been running both activities. In Alsace, with my brother Olivier, and in the South-West with Jean-Jacques Charvoz. Firewood. The fire goes on.
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