This France-Italy, they could have watched it on television. And not only because of the wobbly agreement between the Federation and the League which forces Fabien Galthié and his staff to change almost their entire team to welcome the Transalpins. But because Anthony Jelonch and Baptiste Pesenti, holders at the Stade de France on Saturday evening (9:10 p.m.), did not bet everything on rugby in their professional career.
Anthony Jelonch, 24, third row: the farmer
“We have made him eat well since,” laughs Jérôme Jelonch. In the photo he sends us, the child version of his son Anthony enthusiastically handles the fodder intended for cows, blondes d’Aquitaine, from the family farm. The Castres, who will celebrate his third selection against Italy, grew up in this farm located near Vic-Fezensac, in the Gers.
“At six, I already let him drive the tractor,” smiles the father. Saturday at the Jelonches, it’s Anthony’s match with his club Vic-Fezensac. On Sunday, the little boy goes to make firewood. As a teenager, he joined the Auch training center where he met his great friend Antoine Dupont and the agricultural school of Mirande where he prepared his professional baccalaureate, a breeding specialty.
“We had arranged his course for him so that he could juggle the two,” recalls his trainer, Julien Sarraute. The performance of the one who will start as third center row this Saturday is seductive. Beyond his department. Shortly before his majority, he was selected for a test in Clermont-Ferrand. Impressed by his physical capacities, the Auvergnats want to recruit him.
“I told them that I would not move my herd so far,” says Jérôme Jelonch. We’re pretty family, we didn’t want Anthony to go that far. The young man signs in Castres and ends, his bac in his pocket, by stopping the studies. The following ? He joined the pro group, was selected for the first time for the French team three years ago and will play in Toulouse next season.
“If he hadn’t been a rugby player, he would have been a farmer,” says his father, who has since sold his herd, rents his vines and continues to cut firewood. The third line found the family farm during the first containment in the spring. “I feel that he misses the land, breaths Jérôme Jelonch. I continue to work so that he can take over the farm one day if he wants. But he will have to shake his hands, he has acquired the habits of city dwellers (laughs). »
Baptiste Pesenti, 23, second line: seller of gourmet baskets
Obviously, we ended up asking him the question of the origin of the name. “Why was it called Finesse by Pesenti? Because we are big nags, bullies. And that we found it funny to play on this gap, ”laughs Mathieu Pesenti. Saturday, his brother Baptiste and his 122 kilos will know their first selection. The second line is also one of the three partners of the small family business where Joël, the father, is essentially there to decide between his two children.
The company, created in 2017, has launched into the online sale of gourmet baskets. The concept is simple: the customer can compose online his batch of products from Béarn or Franche-Comté – Baptiste is a Jurassien who plays in Pau – and decorate it with a bottle of champagne, a yellow wine, a times bold or a Gex blue. In short, that gourmet, selected by the Pesenti brothers, to be delivered.
“Baptiste finds and approaches producers near Pau, I do the same on the Jura side,” says Mathieu. The rugby player has sought out certain suppliers from the companies that revolve around the Section paloise. And made the locker room of his club a place of commercial canvassing.
“We have a dedicated customer account for the Section Pau on our site,” his brother smiles. Baptiste, he is as generous in life as he is ruthless in the field. If it were up to him, he would never charge postage or VAT (laughs). “
In parallel with his Top 14 matches, the young man is studying business management. “Ultimately, we will make an interesting pair,” emphasizes Mathieu. Him as president, in management in the broad sense. Me as a salesperson. ”Finesse by Pesenti, where we are in the process of preparing packages for Christmas, ultimately wants to establish itself physically and open its shop. But no question of rushing like nags.
