Paul Gustard to be unveiled at Stade Francais on Tuesday - report
Ex-England defence coach Paul Gustard is reportedly in France ahead of his likely Tuesday unveiling as a new Stade Francais assistant coach. The former Harlequins head of rugby had taken up a three-year deal at Benetton in the URC last year, but that relationship looks set to end after just a single season amid reports that the 46-year-old is poised for a switch to the Top 14.
According to rugbyrama.fr, a supporters evening is planned at the club and the expectation is that their new staff for the 2022/23 season will be confirmed prior to this function. It was May 20, just before the final Benetton match of their URC season, when it emerged that the Top 14 club was courting Gustard.
Having earned his stripes as a defence coach at Saracens, Gustard became part of the original Eddie Jones set-up at England before branching out to become his own boss when recruited by Harlequins. That tie-up ended prematurely, Gustard announcing in January 2021 that he would be taking up an offer to go to Italy for the 2021/22 season.
Now, though, Gustard is reportedly on the move again, joining Julien Arias, Laurent Sempere and James Kent as part of the rejigged Stade Francais staff that will work under boss Gonzalo Quesada. The current season for Stade ended poorly last Sunday night, a 33-17 home defeat to Brive leaving them finishing in eleventh place on the table with just eleven wins in 26 outings.
Their concession of 561 points over the course of the campaign was also the eleventh worst defensive record in the competition, with only bottom pair Biarritz and Perpignan conceding more points along with tenth place Pau.
'If you look at it in simple black and white, I joined Harlequins when they were tenth on equal points with the eleventh team.'
Paul Gustard on life during and after #Quins, the #URC and why he's happier now in @BenettonRugby writes @heagneyl ??? #COYQhttps://t.co/YbbJrGyR9X
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 3, 2021
It was October when Gustard enthusiastically spoke with RugbyPass about his new life in Italy away from London after exiting Harlequins. “We always wanted to try something abroad,” he said. “We were looking at Japan or maybe the southern hemisphere and probably with the impact of covid and older relations and all the rest of it, being so far away from the UK turned us off those ideas and then it was Italy or France or staying in the UK.
“Since I have been to Treviso I have loved it and we have settled in so well, it’s such a welcoming place, a very social culture, very friendly people. They have made us feel very welcome, so it has been awesome. During the pandemic first time around last March (2020), I had a contract offer from Quins but you always see what is the right fit for you and your family.
“When I spoke to Marco and Antonio (Pavanello) here, compared to the other people I had spoken to, the entirety of the package was right. Everything kind of clicked. In the first conversation, I felt a connection, felt a strong alignment with the direction.
“There are coaching challenges through language, through where the team were suffering massively last year in the PRO14 before the success in the Rainbow Cup, but for the family fit, proximity back to the UK, for our relations and so on, it kind of just worked. Sometimes when you just find things it’s the right opportunity. It wasn’t the one I was expecting but it felt right.
“We’re in the city which is not too big. Inside the city walls, it is quite small and Treviso sprawls out but we are literally next to the main town square. We have got an apartment right in the centre,” continued the father of three. “The awesome part of life is to give your children opportunity and the opportunity to live abroad was something me and my wife were very keen to do.
“The opportunity to live in a city as beautiful as Treviso and learning another language will give them another tool in life but also even though they are young, resilience and adaptability, key characteristics that you look for as you get older, we can start to instil some of these qualities in our young people, which was one of our driving factors for looking abroad initially.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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 comments