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'It was a no-brainer': Ex-Bok Lionel Mapoe on startling shift from Top 14 to France's third tier Nicois
Lionel Mapoe spent his 32nd birthday cramming his belongings into boxes, filling bags with clothes and wrangling with his two young children as they revelled in the mayhem of the family’s Paris apartment. For the second time in a year, the Springbok was uprooting his clan in the name of rugby.
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This latest transfer, though, marks a startling shift for Mapoe from Stade Francais in the Top 14 to Stade Nicois in the newly formed Nationale, the third tier of the French game. Capped as recently as August 2018, a double Currie Cup champion and a three-time Super Rugby finalist, it marks a significant drop in standard, prestige and salary.
None of that seems to bother the South African at a time when seriously talented players are scrabbling around for contracts in a coronavirus-decimated market. “Most of the time, we take what we do for granted,” said Mapoe, the new Nicois centre/wing, to RugbyPass. “I have never found myself in a position like this before where I was worried for my family.
“At Stade, we were very happy but when the pandemic hit, the club started to cut costs. I had to dig deep and believe that I would find a club interested in my services knowing that I had only played twelve games last season. A lot of high-class players who played international rugby are struggling to find contracts at the moment. I could well have been sitting here without a job. Stade Nicois gave me that opportunity again and I’m just really thankful.”
Life in Paris was turbulent, eye-opening and invigorating all at once. Mapoe and his family absorbed a new culture and began to learn French. The rugby, though, proved desperately hard.
Don’t be so hard on yourself . pic.twitter.com/AAf96pbPt9
— Lionel Mapoe (@13LionelMapoe14) May 23, 2020
Stade wielded some terrific international players but finished dead last in the abandoned Top 14 after the grimmest of campaigns. Heyneke Meyer, the former Boks coach who signed Mapoe from the Lions last year, left in November to be replaced by two recently retired players. The team won five league games from 17, shipped 488 points and ended with a points difference of -160.
“We struggled to find our identity and how we wanted to play,” Mapoe said. “With the type of players we had, we could well have been a top-five team. I don’t think the style Heyneke Meyer wanted to play suited most of the players and the calibre of player we had. Some players weren’t happy; some weren’t playing to their full potential – including me.
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“Some weekends, we changed a lot and we weren’t too consistent. It was difficult to find that identity. You can have world-class players but if you’re not all in sync, you won’t play to your potential. We have world-class players but we still ended up last.
“The potential of the group is massive. If Heyneke could have gotten us all with the same mindset towards what he was trying to achieve, we would probably have been much better off. Last place doesn’t reflect the group of players we had.”
Amid the tumult, it was brutally hard to shine. Injuries struck and Mapoe mustered only a dozen games. He never truly felt like he belonged. “You have to find yourself in a new team. I don’t think I did that in the games that I played, and I was injured in between.
“I know I’ve still got a lot of rugby in me and playing twelve games isn’t going to make me look like a superstar. Some coaches allow the players to have time to cement themselves in a team. Here, we have a lot of international players where from this week to next week, the team could change at any point. I struggled to find consistency.”
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With the onset of the pandemic and the changing of coaches, the club decided not to offer him a new deal. There were options in South Africa, with the Lions particularly keen, but Mapoe looked at how coronavirus was sweeping through his homeland and thought it best to keep his family away.
Besides, he didn’t feel fulfilled. His European odyssey had been cut short and left him hungry and underwhelmed. Stade Nicois have now prolonged the Mapoe journey and will regard the Springbok as a serious coup, their marquee player among 18 pre-season recruits.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAFF3G4pvjI/
They are hugely ambitious, with designs on winning immediate promotion to the Pro D2. Mapoe’s former and new French clubs operate a partnership where young players are sent from Paris to Nice for development, easing his transition.
Scottish Rugby also invests in the Nationale club, supplying burgeoning players and coaches, and will be pleased to see its inclusion in the new third tier and yearning to go higher still. Four Scots spent last season at Nicois, with lock Hamish Bain returning to sign for Glasgow Warriors this summer.
Mapoe moved to Nicois in the idyllic south of France on Wednesday. The club have assigned an estate agent to find him a house and he is putting the family up in a hotel until they have settled on a new home. He has signed a one-year deal for now but hopes to stay longer, whether with Nicois or further up the French system.
⚫️🔴 MERCATO 🔴⚫️
Le Stade Niçois est heureux d’annoncer la signature du trois-quart centre international sud-africiain Lionel Mapoe (31 ans, 14 sélections) en provenance du @SFParisRugby.Nous lui souhaitons la bienvenue à Nice ! #Rugby #Nationale #RugbyNationale #Nice06 pic.twitter.com/sSPwFbyRea
— Stade Niçois Rugby (@stadenicois) July 10, 2020
“The mental challenge now is going to be the expectations of me from the people at Stade Nicois,” continued Mapoe. “But I have learned to handle that situation, so I don’t think it’s going to be hard for me to go down the leagues. I know for myself I just need to play to my potential to add value to the team and help the youngsters where I can. I can’t sit here and think, I’m going to a team that’s two tiers under the Top 14, so I must just relax and go for a holiday.
“I need to play to my full potential to say, listen here, it doesn’t mean I think I’m better than the next player. I need to prove to them that I am good enough to play for them. Taking a pay cut is inevitable and if you are looking for a new team, you’re not going to get your market value. That is another challenge for us, but that’s not what I set my mind on.
“That’s one thing that can derail what I’m trying to achieve. I can go down there and be negative because I’m earning less than at Stade Francais and that is going to impact my play, my family. Before I took the Nice contract, I looked at all my options and what is going to be best for the family because I need to support them. It was a no-brainer to go down to Nice, take the contract and start afresh.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Billy's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
1 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
1 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
2 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
3 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
28 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to comments