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Top 14 boss responds to player's bizarre social media attack on coach

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - APRIL 16: Clermont Auvergne's Marvin O'Connor during the Heineken Champions Cup Round of 16 Leg Two match between Leicester Tigers and ASM Clermont Auvergne at Mattioli Woods Welford Road Stadium on April 16, 2022 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Stephen White - CameraSport via Getty Images)

Former Clermont Sevens player, Marvin O’Connor posted an insulting tweet about his former coach in the middle of the night.

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Did Marvin O’Connor lose his mind? It was 12.21am on Sunday 27 October when he took the time to compose a message on his X account with a lot of emojis (9 in all) to insult Christophe Urios, the coach of Clermont, who had just recorded his fourth defeat of the season away from home (against Stade Français, 36-6).

“Nice performance again Christophe. 450 points conceded on the road and you’re back. You’re a genius. You seem to really get on everyone’s nerves, Einstein (…) there’s not a single one of your super soldiers who can nick you, asshole.”

In another message, he even described him as “a dish of béchamel sauce”. Anyways, the genius of it all was widely commented on the social channel, with some suggesting that the player had apparently had a little too much to drink that evening.

Another victim of alcohol?

Yet it is precisely this plague of alcohol that the French rugby federation (FFR) wishes to tackle following the disastrous tour of South America last July.

A few days ago, in his back-to-work interview, Les Bleus coach Fabien Galthié proclaimed: “We need to appeal to individual conscience, which sometimes evaporates under the effect of the group”.

What happened to Marvin O’Connor? Where has his “individual conscience” gone?

Having played for Bayonne (2011-2015), Montpellier (2015-2017) and Stade Français (2017-2018), the 33-year-old winger arrived at ASM Clermont as a medical joker in September 2021 and was not really used (two tries in 26 appearances).

Never used by Christophe Urios

As soon as Christophe Urios took over at the start of 2023, a couple of weeks after O’Connor’s last appearance for the club against the Stormers, O’Connor never appeared in a match. His last game for ASM Clermont in Top 14 came on 5 November 2022, when he started on the right wing, ironically in a 20-25 defeat to Bayonne at Le Michelin.

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The former France 7 player (2018 – 2021) officially left ASM in June 2024 after more than 18 months without playing. It seems that hard feelings towards the coach is still very strong.

Just after his re-election, FFR President Florian Grill said: “The issues surrounding addictions – alcohol and cocaine – are major. Playing with the rooster on your chest gives you rights, but also a lot of duties and responsibilities”. Does this also apply to former players as well?

“Marvin chose to stay, even though he knew he wouldn’t get any playing time, which was his decision to make, just as it is our duty to defend our club against the comments of a frustrated ex-player.

The ASLM Clermont club president responded in a statement published by ASM Clermont midday on Sunday 27 October, a few hours after RugbyPass reported the infamous post.

“Following Marvin O’Connor’s unacceptable statements published on X following the defeat against Stade Français, the President of ASM Clermont Auvergne, Jean-Claude Pats, has decided to speak out,” the statement reads.

“The words of a frustrated ex-player”

“I cannot tolerate anyone publicly attacking and denigrating the club or any of its members,’ said Jean-Claude Pats.

‘In his message, Marvin O’Connor expressed a frustration inherited from the past. Christophe made it clear to him, as early as June 2023 and without the need of social channels, that he was not counting on him for the coming season and encouraged him, for his career, to look for a new club.

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“Marvin chose to stay, even though he knew he wouldn’t get any playing time, which was his decision to make, just as it is our duty to defend our club against the comments of a frustrated ex-player.

“ASM has always been transparent and benevolent towards him, acting in his best interests at every stage…

“Within the club, no one needs an intermediary or social networks to talk to Christophe, his assistants or myself.

“Respect is a fundamental value of our club, and one that we hold dear.”

So, Pats is confirming what we suspected: frustrated at not having been able to play for the club, O’Connor chose social channel to let off steam.

The tweet was finally deleted on Sunday evening.

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

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Comments

1 Comment
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J Marc 13 days ago

I am not sure this Tweet has something to do whith alcohol . I am not sure either it was the most important event in french rugby this week...

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JW 2 hours ago
All Blacks player ratings vs Ireland | Autumn Nations Series

Nah, if you see some picture of a way to blame Dmac rather than the whole team who were slacking and just getting beat by an Argentina team that was up for it then you've got unconscious bias I'm afraid.


The coaching staff (and the team as they had done throughout Fosters era) did just not get them in the right frame of mind. They slackened off after two intense English tests and were slow to build back up into test match intensity after the San Diego run around. You can view that Wellington loss as akin to what went on in Chicago in 2016, it was just delayed a couple of weeks in this instance.


Good reminder of what game management is, unfortunately it doesn't cover all the bases and is missing pivotal parts of lethality.


I think you're misunderstanding the argument, this is about Dmac, not the team, and about his idea of game management, not his application. In none of the games this year, including this weekends one, has he done relentless execution of the basics. His conservative game was neither shrewd or accurate.


The difference here is perspective. You see a win and you want to apply credit, just as you saw a lose and want to apply blame. Dmac's game management in both circumstances was very similar, just in this game I felt that pressure to concentrate on it caused him a few more errors in that application for no real gain in that area, and a much more ineffective attack stop the team from making it a very comfortable game.


The other difference is you a way overplaying Irelands performance imo. They were pathetic. Even in the start of the 2nd when they were trying to get points with the card it felt comfortable they weren't going to have what it takes even if they fixed their error rate. That was the first Bled test where Dmac nearly singlehandedly took an unbeatable 50 lead, a great example of good game management that again just didn't come off. Those tests were not 12 tests ago. Twelve tests ago he was running England around like he'd been in the jersey his whole career. We didn't break any record, the streak is a figment of Irelands imagination to desperately show how good they are to the world. You've been caught hook line and sinker in all these topics sadly.

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