The emotion was there for Isabelle Ithurburu. Since 2009, the journalist has officiated on Canal where she hosted Canal Rugby Club, the flagship program for rugby enthusiasts. After 14 years of good and loyal service, the 40-year-old presented her last number during the Top 14 rugby final between Toulouse and La Rochelle, before joining TF1 next September.
At the end of the match, Isabelle Ithurburu was cheered on by her colleagues near the Stade de France lawn, moved by this attention. “I’m lost,” she says, her eyes filled with tears, thanking her partner Guillem Garrigues and addressing her team. “You are all incredible and caring”, as evidenced by the images relayed below.
The wife of musician Maxime Nucci took the opportunity to thank the leaders of the encrypted channel like Maxime Saada “who trusted me for a long time until today and again tomorrow”. Or the sports commentator Éric Bayle “for everything you taught me”. Despite his departure, the sports journalist wants to be reassuring with his comrades. “It’s just a little goodbye, I’m not going very far”, since the premises of the TF1 groups and the Canal group are located in the same district in Boulogne-Billancourt. “Maybe I’ll even come back,” she slips before concluding the show with a smile.
If a page turns for Isabelle Ithurburu, she wanted to address a special word to clubs and viewers on her Instagram page. “Finally, a big thank you to the clubs for your always warm welcome, and to all the subscribers and enthusiasts that I had the chance to meet here and there, and that I still read every day. Your words touch my heart”, she wrote in the caption this Monday, June 19, 2023.
By joining TF1 at the start of the 2023 school year, journalist Isabelle Ithurburu will succeed Nikos Aliagas to present 50 minutes Inside on Saturdays and the 2023 Rugby World Cup Mag. Who will replace the presenter after her departure? It is the host Astrid Bard who has been appointed to take over the controls of the Canal Rugby Club.
A face well known to the faithful of the show since she was Isabelle Ithurburu’s joker during her maternity leave in 2018 on Canal. At the same time, the one who officiated on the radio on Europe 1 is a sports specialist for the encrypted channel where she notably hosts the Canal Football Club and the Late Rugby Club.
“Very happy to find the whole Rugby team of Canal Plus”, formalized his colleague Astrid Bard this June 18 on Twitter. “I hope to live up to my friend Isabelle Ithurburu who carried this great Top 14 show so well. Thank you Maxime Saada, Gérald-Brice Viret and Thomas Sénécal for your trust”.