'We are only 12 months into the project': Olympic gold winner Baber nears €10m budget

Gareth Baber, the Welshman who masterminded Fiji’s second successive Olympic Sevens gold medal in Tokyo, is one win away from taking Nissa Rugby back into the French Pro D2 and triggering a playing budget of up to €10m (£8.6m) next season.

Nissa Rugby, formerly Nice, will gain automatic promotion if they beat Narbonne in the play-off final in Bourg-en-Bresse on Saturday with returning to the second flight of French rugby estimated to be worth millions of Euros in increased operating budgets, TV revenue, and commercial opportunities.

If they make it back into Pro D2, Nissa can spend up to the salary cap of €10m which eclipses the Gallagher PREM’s £6.4m.

Pro D2 clubs will receive around €10.7m in broadcast revenue annually from the 2027 season which currently equates to more than €500k per club. Nissa’s budget remained at around €8m after relegation to the Nationale league last season to highlight the difference in financial clout between the English structures French.

If they lose to Narbonne, Nissa have another chance of promotion via a play-off with the second bottom club in Pro D2, Stade Monois but the target is nailing that this weekend.

Baber, 53, the former Cardiff and Pontypridd back who was skills coach at Edinburgh Rugby before heading up Cardiff Met University’s rugby programme, is coming to the end of his first season as head coach and one of his first jobs was to integrate more than 20 new players.

The current squad includes former Fiji captain Waisea Nayacalevu, Wales outside half Owen Williams, ex-Bristol and Gloucester wing Henry Purdy and former Saracens lock Joel Kpoku, whose twin brother Jonathan plays in the same league for Albi while younger sibling Junior is on loan at Toulon from Racing 92.

Promotion would trigger more signings for Nissa who have already snapped up three players from Grenoble, including Samuel Bielle-Biarrey, the brother of French superstar Louis.

So where would promotion rank in Baber’s list of rugby achievements? “In my mind, if it is winning promotion, an Olympic gold or a European title with Pontypridd, it is knowing we have done what we set out to achieve. Promotion would be the culmination of all those early mornings and a validation of what you have put together collectively.

“Any coach will tell you that the older they get they piece together the good and bad experiences from high pressure situations. People look to you as a leader to confirm that they have got this and can do their best work.”

Baber has worked closely with club President Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and sporting director Matthew Clarkin to establish another major franchise in the South of France and the pressure to succeed is significant given the investment already made in the project. “Here at Nice the President has the ambition to be in the Top 14 and there is a business to be built as Toulon have done,” he explained

“The intention is to go up (to €10m) and we want to grow the quality and ambition of the team by recruiting and promotion will give us the chance to bring in more players and we are only 12 months into the project here in Nice.

“In my career as a player and coach, I have tried to keep perspective and I don’t have all the answers and it is about building cultures and teams. At Nissa there was no set agenda and we have learnt along the way. Players like Waisea, who comes from a strong Fijian background and has great knowledge of what it is like to win overseas and Owen, who has massive experience at international and club level, are important in the process. Jean-Pascal Barraque won Olympic Sevens gold with France and has a lot of top level experience.

“I came on board to get this play-off final win with a new set of players. The squad that had been relegated was changed around and it’s been a challenge to knit them all together and that has taught me a lot. There is a second chance after this game and tough as it is mentally there is that next opportunity we may have to confront.”

Nissa beat Narbonne 32-27 last month having lost to the same opposition earlier in the season and Baber added: “They are very confrontational and have Springbok winger Aphiwe Dyantyi, who is very good in the air. Narbonne have real physicality and the set piece and contact will be the usual key areas.”