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Richard Cockerill is sacked by Montpellier after just seven games
Former England assistant Richard Cockerill has been sacked by Montpellier just seven games into the Top 14 season. The Eddie Jones appointed forwards coach opted not to continue at Test level under Steve Borthwick, signalling his intention last spring to finish up at the end of the 2023 Guinness Six Nations and instead take up a sports manager role at the home of the 2022 French league champions.
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However, his stay in the south of France has come to an abrupt end after Montpellier owner Mohed Altrad drafted in Bernard Laporte over the weekend and one of his first decisions was to remove Cockerill from his post.
The upheaval came following Saturday’s loss at fellow strugglers Perpignan, which resulted in Montpellier falling to the bottom of the Top 14 table with just one win in seven matches this term.
The Cockerill era had started on August 20 with a home win over back-to-back European champions La Rochelle, but six defeats in succession prompted Altrad to act.
Laporte arrived in Montpellier late on Sunday morning and he quickly instigated an overhaul of the coaching staff, starting with the sacking of Cockerill and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde. The former France head coach explained to Midi Olympique that he had agreed to assist the club some weeks ago but wasn’t expecting to start as soon as he had.
“I really like Mohed, we are in regular contact,” he began. “He asked me several times and I felt it was the right time. We agreed last week but the defeat against USAP precipitated everything. I couldn’t leave this club in difficulty. Last in the Top 14, is out of place.
“With Mohed, we decided to change everything. My mission will be to support him, to support the players, but first of all, to put together a new staff. That’s what I did this weekend. I won’t be on the pitch, I’m not going to coach. I’m not old enough for that anymore, especially since it’s been more than eight years since I’ve done it.
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“A few days ago, a mutual friend put me in touch with Patrice Collazo. We hit it off. He will be the new general manager of the MHR, replacing Richard Cockerill. After that, I looked at the available technicians who were likely to come to Montpellier. That is why I called Vincent Etcheto this morning at length and he is on his way to Montpellier and along with Patrice.
“Christian Labit also gave me his agreement this Sunday morning, he will come to take care of the forwards with Antoine Battut – the club had obtained his signature a few days ago. I discovered that the four of them knew and liked each other. They want to work together and with me.
“Richard Cockerill and Jean-Baptiste Elissalde will not continue with us. They are no longer there. On the other hand, Jeremy Valls will continue to take care of the kicking game and Benson Stanley of the defence.”
It was last February, following England’s opening round Six Nations loss to Scotland, when the RFU confirmed that Cockerill, who had joined for the 2021/22 season under Jones after leaving Edinburgh, would be moving on at the end of that campaign.
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The coach said at the time in a statement: “Having coached and played in France previously, my family and I always had aspirations to return. This opportunity presented itself some time ago and it was too hard to turn down personally and professionally.
“It is disappointing not to work with Steve and the wider team beyond the Six Nations. I had hoped to be able to stay for the Rugby World Cup, but the timings weren’t meant to be.”
With his Montpellier adventure cut short, Cockerill has already been linked with the Test-level vacancy in Georgia left by Levan Maisashvili, the head coach who stepped away after their recent Rugby World Cup campaign.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments