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Gustard décline, Leicester dans l'impasse

Michael Cheika, l’entraîneur en chef des Leicester Tigers, avant le match de Champions Cup contre l’Ulster, le 11 janvier 2025 au Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium, à Leicester (Angleterre). (Photo : Alex Livesey / Getty Images)

Paul Gustard ne reviendra pas à Leicester la saison prochaine. L’Anglais de 49 ans va honorer la dernière année de son contrat avec le Stade Français, mettant ainsi fin aux espoirs des Tigers, qui voyaient en lui le successeur idéal de Michael Cheika.

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Ancien flanker des London Irish et des Saracens, Gustard avait pourtant été désigné comme priorité par Leicester après avoir sondé d’autres options, dont Franco Smith, l’actuel entraîneur de Glasgow. Problème : comme pour Smith, les dirigeants des Tigers ont refusé de payer une indemnité jugée raisonnable pour racheter sa dernière année de contrat à Paris.

Leicester n’avait pas les moyens de racheter sa dernière année de contrat

Un choix qui fait grincer des dents, surtout quand on sait que Leicester a encaissé des montants conséquents lors des départs de Steve Borthwick, Kevin Sinfield et Richard Wigglesworth vers la fédération anglaise. Cette fois, c’est eux qui sont perdants dans l’histoire, et les voilà de retour à la case départ, à chercher un nouveau plan de secours alors que le départ de Cheika approche à grands pas.

Gustard, lui, poursuit son chemin. Après sept ans dans le staff des Saracens puis un passage comme coach de la défense du XV de la Rose, il était devenu directeur du rugby aux Harlequins avant de tenter l’aventure à l’étranger : une saison à Benetton, puis le Stade Français, qu’il a rejoint en 2022 comme entraîneur de la défense.

Promu entraîneur principal après le limogeage de Karim Ghezal en septembre dernier, il a hérité des pleins pouvoirs en février, quand Laurent Labit a été écarté alors que le club glissait dangereusement vers le bas du classement.

Depuis, Gustard a remis le navire à flot : Paris est remonté à la 11e place du Top 14, avec huit points d’avance sur Vannes, bon dernier.

Le président Hans-Peter Wild ne s’en est pas caché : au micro de Canal+ après la victoire contre Bayonne (31-27), il a affirmé vouloir garder Gustard. Souhait exaucé.

Quant à Leicester, une autre piste s’éloigne : celle de Stuart Lancaster, également évoqué, qui semble plus tenté par un retour dans le giron international. L’heure tourne à Welford Road, et la quête d’un nouvel entraîneur vire au casse-tête.

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Initialement publié sur RugbyPass.com, cet article a été adapté en français par Willy Billiard.

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Flankly 1 hour ago
Late Makazole Mapimpi try earns the Sharks win away to Edinburgh

Jake White described this as the strongest Sharks lineup ever. There is no doubt that it is at least an impressive roster. They did win, which is obviously an achievement against a good Edinburgh side. However …


For much of the first half Edinburgh seemed easily able to create 2 on 1 opportunities on both wings, with the defensive wingers biting in on the inside runner and cover defence being AWOL. Conversely the Sharks showed little ability to get behind the Edinburgh defensive line, with the sole exception of a nicely-exploited Am mismatch against a second row (which led to the Fassi try).


In general the Sharks, with their full complement of Bok firepower, do not look that dangerous in attack, and while tackling was good on the whole and goal line defence was impressive at times, they were exhibiting surprising breakdowns in open play defensive structures.


Also, the Sharks continue to be inaccurate, with material impact on the scoreboard. Missing two very kickable penalties is not the way to be the best. It looked to me like the Sharks contestable kicks were not well enough executed, and were too hard to recover.


Not sure what the running attack was trying to do, but my guess is that they were trying to pull off a Harlequins-style bash-and-offload game off of 12 (Esterhuizen). That’s not a terrible idea with the personnel available, but it would require creativity and a precision on second phase that was not in evidence.


Lastly, you have to have better discipline. It’s great that the team can cope with a 13 vs 14 period (of almost 10 minutes), but smart teams a avoid cards.


Having said that it was great to see the win. I thought that Edinburgh were cynical and niggly. Always hanging around on the wrong side of the breakdown, lots of intentional obstruction, illegal dummying at the base of the ruck, etc. They played a dirty game and the ref tolerated it. Always good to see that not succeed.


Overall the “best Sharks lineup ever” scraped the win, but under-performed their Bok-laden potential. Again.

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