How French rugby has already changed under Jacques Brunel
The Guy Noves era at France ended three weeks ago, when he was unceremoniously dumped from the job he claimed to love and replaced by Jacques Brunel.
The news, though widely expected, was not greeted with universal approval. Former Bordeaux Brunel coach is a month older than the man he replaced, and was assistant coach to Bernard Laporte when the FFR president was coach of the French national side – prompting suggestions that Laporte could be France coach-by-proxy.
The early farce surrounding the new coach’s choice of staff didn’t help. The French media got themselves a little overheated in nominating every hot choice in the Top 14, from La Rochelle duo Patrice Collazo and Xavier Garbajosa and Clermont’s Franck Azema, to Montpellier’s Vern Cotter and Toulon’s Fabien Galthie – not to mention Lyon’s Pierre Mignoni and the rather more left-field option of Toulouse’s Ugo Mola.
It didn’t matter that Collazo, Garbajosa and Mignoni had all recently signed long-term deals with their clubs; or that Cotter and Galthie were just a few months into their own contracts – they were hot tickets to a new dawn that pundits were determined to make as bright as possible, regardless of the fact that French rugby was – in reality still is – an unholy mess.
As big coaching name after big coaching name politely but firmly distanced themselves from any of the Marcoussis hotseats, speculation quickly dialled back – but, while Sebastien Bruno’s secondment from Lyon as scrum coach, was widely welcomed, the names Julien Bonnaire and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde were greeted with questioning looks and no small amount of suspicion.
New lineout coach Bonnaire, who only retired as a player at the end of last season, has almost no notable coaching experience to speak of.
Backs coach Elissalde’s genius on the pitch was undeniable, but his ability as a coach to transfer that natural mastery to others is questionable. Toulouse’s confident and flying backs division this season bear no comparison to the lumpen, leaden three-quarters that disgraced the club before it dumped him at the end of a dreadful 2016/17 season almost as unceremoniously as France got rid of Noves in December.
With just a week before Brunel selects his squad for the Six Nations, and less than a month before France kick off their tournament against Ireland at Stade de France, it would be easy to think that the only changes are among the faces at the Marcoussis training set up.
Brunel’s big changes
But that’s not entirely true. A shift is taking place. The elite player system, introduced by Laporte’s predecessor to tempt Noves to belatedly take the national job he probably should have accepted in years earlier, was – in a few words from the new man at the helm – effectively scrapped after just a few months.
Talking to journalists on Monday, Brunel said of the elite list: “Today, I don’t know if it should [continue].”
He added that, during his time in charge, “selection will not be made on the basis of this list … [which] … constrains the clubs.”
To be honest, the England-aping elite system was already in deep trouble. Initially hailed as a new dawn for French rugby, it quickly became clear it was a millstone. Physical preparation was taken out of the hands of club coaches and imposed from afar by Marcoussis. To say it didn’t work would be to miss an opportunity to say it was an abject failure.
Figures
Just look at the figures. France used 68 players during the November internationals. Of the 45 on Noves’ elite list, 18 were not selected. Some were injured; others, including inexplicable Noves favourite Jean-Marc Doussain, were not. So why were they wasting their time? We’ll never know.
Under Brunel, selection will be by consent. Players who are fit and hungry in the eyes of the national team, and in the opinion of their club coaches will be picked for tournaments, tours and series.
Quite how that builds a squad for the 2019 World Cup remains to be seen. But Noves’ high-handed tactics were clearly not working, despite his well-publicised complaints to the contrary.
Which brings us to a second, rather more surprising, new reality. Relations between club and country were a key reason for Noves’ disputed departure. But, at long last, the twain between those two long-term rivals of French rugby, the FFR and LNR, which runs the professional game in France has, if not actually met, then at least moved closer. They are at least sitting down in the same room … and talking in the direction of one another.
On Monday, 12 of the 14 coaches in the Top 14 headed up to Marcoussis for a round table with Brunel, his lieutenants, Laporte and LNR president Paul Goze.
Montpellier’s Vern Cotter chose to stay with his club to focus on their Champions Cup trip to Exeter; while Castres’ Christophe Urios discovered his plane was cancelled at the last minute.
The way forward?
Under discussion, the way forward for a France side for whom going forward has been a problem since the Laporte years. The meeting took in the validity of the elite player system; training and preparation; coaching and consulting.
The idea for now is that Top 14 coaches will occasionally parachute in and coach on a short-term consultancy basis. Franck Azema has already been suggested as a possible drop-in for next June’s tour of New Zealand. Cooks and broth, or many hands and light work? We’ll have to wait and see.
It’s got to get past the talking stage yet. Right now, that first meeting – despite the promising noises afterwards – can be dismissed as just talk. But clubs have agreed to let national coaches come to their training sessions; while Marcoussis will welcome Top 14 coaches who offer their views and expertise. It all sounds terribly grown up.
Will any of this work? Little else in French rugby over the past decade has – so why not give it a chance? It may be desperate throw of the dice – a million-to-one shot. But, in the Discworld fantasies of Terry Pratchett, million-to-one shots succeed nine times out of 10. Maybe it will work just as well in the fantasy world of French rugby.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
25 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
25 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments