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Paul Gustard recruits club great to help ailing Stade Francais
By Josh Raisey
Former Stade Francais hooker Mathieu Blin has joined the club he spent more than a decade with as a consultant in what is proving to be a difficult season.
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A season after finishing second in the Top 14, just a point behind eventual champions Toulouse, and crashing out in the semi-finals, the Parisian outfit are second-from-bottom this season after 14 matches, and are faced with the prospect of a potential relegation play-off at the end of the season.
The club have already sacked head coach Karim Ghezal this campaign, subsequently promoting Paul Gustard to the role, and have now decided to further strengthen their coaching team, with Blin – a Stade Francais centurion and winner of multiple Top 14 titles between 1997 and 2010 – joining as a consultant to help with the scrum.
The 47-year-old is an experienced coach, having coached Agen for five years shortly after his playing career ended.
“From this day on, the Stade Français Paris staff will be able to count on its former player, Mathieu Blin, hooker at the club for thirteen seasons between 1997 and 2010, to provide his expertise in the scrum sector until the end of the 2024/2025 season,” a Stade Francais statement reads (translated by Google).
“Mathieu will thus support the current staff in this essential sector of conquest with a consulting role.
“He will work weekly with the professional team, only during training sessions and without being present on match days.”
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The club have faced league leaders Bordeaux-Begles and second-place Toulouse over the last two rounds, and will now take on Gallagher Premiership winners Northampton Saints and United Rugby Championship runners-up the Bulls over the next two weeks in the Investec Champions Cup.
Upon returning from their European duties Stade Francais have what could be a season-defining couple of weeks with a trip to bottom-of-the-league Vannes, followed by a visit from Pau, who sit two places and only two points ahead of them.
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I know Rugbypass is very english speaking focused, but I am not sure Paul Gustard recruit anybody... But maybe Laurent Labit is like Fabien Galthie who is only the assistant of Shawn Edwards...