Outrunning ‘Bob’: How Flament Loughborough Leap, Buenos Aires Gamble and Fertility Call Shaped a France Star
Outrunning ‘Bob’ – Flament on Loughborough, Buenos Aires and the fertility call that mattered more than rugby
If you want to understand Thibaud Flament, don’t start with the lineout steals or the Six Nations medals. Start instead in a Buenos Aires café in 2017, where a 20-year-old student with no job, no bed for the night and barely a contact to his name decided he would simply make things happen.
On the pitch, Flament covers ground like a back-rower trapped in a lock’s body. Off it, he has lived with the same forward momentum. His journey from Loughborough University to Argentina, from academy hopeful to France regular, is stitched together by bold calls — some sporting, some deeply personal.
And threaded through it all is “Bob”.
Loughborough: choosing rugby over convention
Flament arrived at Loughborough to study international business, a course typically designed as a launchpad into corporate life. His classmates polished CVs and chased elite internships. Flament did something else entirely: he told the placement office he was heading to Argentina to play rugby.
“They were a bit surprised,” he admits. “It’s not really the point of the course.”
But professional rugby had long been the North Star. Growing up in Belgium, he had struggled to access the French club pathway. Loughborough offered rugby structure and opportunity — even if it meant starting humbly in the fifth team as a lanky fly-half still searching for his true position.
The degree was important. The dream was more so.
Buenos Aires: no job, no plan, no problem
When Flament landed in Argentina’s capital, reality hit quickly. He had one contact — former Leicester prop Marcos Ayerza — and little else. Ayerza collected him from the airport and took him straight to watch Club Newman. By the end of the post-match barbecue, one of his new team-mates had found him a room.
Income, however, remained elusive.
So Flament did what would become a pattern: he hustled.
He infiltrated expatriate circles, attended embassy events, introduced himself to anyone who might listen. French schools, the embassy, the chamber of commerce — he made himself visible. At one point, he was even turning up to coffee mornings with the partners of expats, all in pursuit of an internship.
Then came the breakthrough. A man approached him at an event.
“I’ve heard about you everywhere,” the stranger said. “You’re the guy trying everything to get a job.”
That man offered him an internship at the French Embassy — no CV required. Effort had spoken loudly enough.
In rugby terms, Argentina was just as transformative. The physicality bulked out his frame. The tempo hardened his instincts. The fly-half gradually morphed into a rangy second row with soft hands and surprising acceleration.
There is still footage from his time at Newman: wearing number four, bursting into the 22, chipping ahead with a grubber that feels almost mischievous for a lock. It was flair without hesitation.
It was rugby without Bob.
Who is ‘Bob’?
“I realised I had potential,” he says, “but my personality was stopping me reaching it.”
Shy. Insecure. Overthinking. He feared those traits would suffocate his ambitions. So he wrote things down. Analysed himself. Separated the hesitant version — “Bob” — from the fearless one.
The aim was simple: when Bob stepped aside, Thibaud could play freely.
It sounds almost playful, but the psychological shift was serious. Confidence in elite sport is often incremental. For Flament, it became intentional.
From Wasps to France’s radar
After returning to England, he broke into the senior setup at Wasps RFC in 2019. Not long after, the pandemic hit. Borders began closing. Academy manager instructions were clear: travel only in emergencies.
Flament decided this qualified.
He chose to return to Belgium to train rather than remain in Coventry, where he was sharing club accommodation — including with future Bath Rugby number eight Alfie Barbeary.
“I told Alfie it wasn’t negotiable,” he laughs now.
The call proved another stepping stone. French selectors soon labelled him a “UFO” — an unexpected talent who had appeared almost from nowhere. Lying on a physio bed at Wasps, with only a handful of top-flight appearances to his name, he received a FaceTime from France forwards coach William Servat.
He was in their plans.
Eighteen months later, after moving to Stade Toulousain, he made his France debut in November 2021.
Grand Slam highs and World Cup heartache
From there, Flament became a fixture in the French pack. The 2022 Six Nations Grand Slam. The emotional swell of a home Rugby World Cup campaign in 2023. And a 2025 Six Nations title run that reinforced France’s place among Europe’s elite.
His athleticism sets him apart. He carries like a flanker, distributes like a centre and defends with the steel expected of a tight-five enforcer. Coaches value his engine; team-mates value his calm.
Yet for all the on-field achievements, one of his most defining recent decisions happened away from the stadium.
The fertility call that transcended rugby
Ahead of this year’s Six Nations opener against Ireland, Flament was absent. In elite sport, players often cite minor strains to explain a week out. Flament chose transparency.
He and his wife, Ethel, who has endometriosis, were undergoing time-sensitive fertility treatment. He would miss the match to be there.
“It wasn’t easy deciding to explain why,” he says. “We thought maybe some people would question it.”
Instead, the response was overwhelmingly supportive. Messages flooded in. Stories were shared. Others opened up about similar journeys.
“It’s not something you shout from every roof,” he reflects. “But we were surprised how many people we know went through medical assistance.”
The France management backed him fully. No drama. No pressure. Just understanding.
In a sport that often celebrates stoicism, it was a quietly radical moment. A player prioritising family without apology.
Back in blue, Bob outrun
Flament returned from the bench against Wales, then started against Italy, delivering a performance that blended lineout authority with open-field ambition. The Six Nations leaders looked sharper with him in the engine room.
Even Bob, you suspect, would struggle to find fault.
Because that’s the arc of Flament’s story: confronting doubt, taking risks, choosing long-term growth over short-term comfort.
From Loughborough lecture halls to Buenos Aires cafés. From embassy internships to Toulousain dominance. From academy uncertainty to Grand Slam glory. And from private fertility challenges to public honesty.
Outrunning “Bob” was never about erasing fear. It was about refusing to let it dictate the route.
Now, when Flament accelerates through a defensive seam or climbs highest at a lineout, there is no visible hesitation. Just intent.
And somewhere, perhaps, a quiet nod to the younger version of himself who boarded a plane to Argentina with nothing guaranteed — except belief.
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