Latest news with #Gustard
France 24
a day ago
- Business
- France 24
Stade Francais owner backs Gustard after relegation scare
The 14-time French champions needed a win over Castres on Saturday to confirm their top-flight status after a sluggish campaign Their 21-10 win saw them finish in 12th spot, nine points ahead of bottom side Vannes, who are relegated automatically, but just one point clear of Perpignan. The Catalans will face a play-off with Grenoble, who finished runners-up in ProD2, to see which will play in next season's Top 14. Gustard, who was England's defence coach under Eddie Jones, joined the Parisians in 2022 in the same role. After the sacking of Karim Ghezal in February of this year and the subsequent sidelining of Laurent Labit, the director of rugby, Gustard moved up to head coach. The 49-year-old was linked with a return to Leicester, where he won the Champions Cup as a player, but has now signed a new deal until 2028. "Paul would have stayed even if we had gone down," Wild told French media. "He's an excellent coach. He studied psychology, so he understands the mindset needed," the 83-year-old added. Stade Francais, who have the second highest budget in the Top 14 of 38 million euros ($43 million), won just 10 league games this season, having reached the playoff semi-finals barely 12 months ago. "It was not a good season," Wild said. "This is why we're meeting again on Wednesday to really work on the strategy for next year and what we have to change. "We clearly made mistakes in hiring, we let five or six very good people go, and what we got is nothing, absolutely nothing," he added without naming individual players. 'Flexible' German-born Wild, who is reportedly worth 3.6 billion euros ($4.11 billion) thanks to his soft drinks company Capri-Sun, bought the club in 2017 but said in March he was looking for someone in France to invest in the outfit with him. "I'm too old. That's the problem. I'll be 84 this month. So how long can I do it? "This is a very expensive hobby," he added. Wild denied reports claiming Bernard Arnault, CEO of the LVMH luxury goods conglomerate and France's richest man, was interested in adding the rugby club to Paris FC, the football club he owns. "We have interested people, but they need money," Wild said. "It depends on who it is. You have to be flexible. For next season, Wild, who was present for eight games this campaign, admitted the goal was qualifying for the Champions Cup. There will be changes in Gustard's coaching staff, with ex-France scrum-half Rory Kockott and former England prop Perry Freshwater arriving as his assistants. On the playing squad, they have been strongly linked by the rugby press with former New Zealand scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow and French prop Thierry Paiva, both at La Rochelle, as they look to avoid a repeat of this season's calamity. "If we had signed someone, we're not going to talk about it, yet," Wild said. "Most of the names in the press are wrong. "Whatever you read is all talk, by an agent," he added. © 2025 AFP
Telegraph
02-05-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Leon MacDonald snubs Leicester Tigers as coach search takes dramatic twist
Leicester's ongoing hunt to find a new head coach has taken another dramatic twist as Leon MacDonald, the preferred candidate for the role, has rejected the Tigers ' offer. Representatives from the Premiership club had travelled over to Australia to meet MacDonald, 47, and finalise an appointment, but Telegraph Sport understands the two parties could not agree terms on a deal. It is thought that the former All Black has turned down the Tigers in favour of a more lucrative move to Yokohama Canon Eagles in Japan or the Reds in Queensland. Unless Leicester are able to return to the current Western Force consultant with an improved offer, negotiations are over. The Tigers, who are second in the Premiership and well placed for a play-off spot with three games of the regular season remaining, have been searching for a replacement head coach for next season since Michael Cheika informed the club in January that he would be returning to his native Australia after one campaign in charge. Graham Rowntree, the Tigers' legendary former prop who left the director of rugby role at Munster earlier this season, slipped down the pecking order when Leicester identified Paul Gustard, the erstwhile England defence coach, as their No 1 candidate. Stade Français were unwilling to release Gustard from the final year of his head coach contract, however, and the deal fell through in March. Since the Gustard appointment collapsed, Rowntree re-entered the mix and, unless Leicester have further late cards to play, the former England forwards coach looks set to be the front-runner for a romantic return to Mattioli Woods Welford Road. Rowntree abruptly left Munster at the beginning of this season having guided the Irish province to the United Rugby Championship title in 2023 and then a top-of-the-table finish in 2024. The 54-year-old is a veteran of four Lions tours (two as a player, in 1997 and 2005, and two as an assistant coach, in 2013 and 2017) and spent seven years as a forwards coach with England under both Martin Johnson and Stuart Lancaster, departing when the latter was sacked after the 2015 World Cup. The Tigers have scoured the globe in their hunt for Cheika's replacement. As well as Rowntree, MacDonald and Gustard, Felix Jones, Richard Wigglesworth, Franco Smith, Clark Laidlaw, Lancaster and Dave Rennie were all approached – either formally or otherwise. Steve Diamond, the Newcastle director of rugby, also pitched his services to the Tigers.
Telegraph
27-02-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Paul Gustard expected to beat Stuart Lancaster to Leicester Tigers job
Paul Gustard is expected to beat Stuart Lancaster in the race to become the next Leicester Tigers head coach. Telegraph Sport understands that Gustard is now the front-runner for the role and a deal could be signed in the coming days after talks were held this week. A former player for Leicester between 1997 and 2002, Gustard had been working as defence coach at Stade Francais but was promoted to head coach last year and then took full control of first-team affairs this week, with the club currently bottom of the Top 14 after winning six of their 17 matches. Telegraph Sport previously revealed that Gustard and Lancaster were the two contenders to replace Michael Cheika, who is set to leave Leicester this summer after one season. Gustard was head of rugby at Harlequins for three years and also England's defence coach when Eddie Jones first took charge, helping to win the Grand Slam in 2016. His coaching career began with a successful spell as Saracens defence coach, while he has also been assistant coach in Italy with Benetton before joining Stade. He has not coached in England since leaving Harlequins in 2021. Lancaster recently became available following his exit from Racing 92 at the start of February, after an ill-fated spell left the club in 12th place by the time of his departure. Lancaster had previously rebuilt his career with Leinster as a highly-regarded senior coach, winning multiple trophies before leaving the province last summer. Other names previously linked with the Leicester role included Graham Rowntree, the former Tigers prop who left Munster in October, and Glasgow Warriors head coach Franco Smith, who has publicly expressed an interest in coaching Test rugby. Smith, like Cheika, is one of the favourites to become the next Wales head coach, with interim Matt Sherratt in charge for the remainder of the Six Nations following Warren Gatland's departure after Wales lost in Rome.
Telegraph
24-02-2025
- Sport
- Telegraph
Stuart Lancaster and Paul Gustard in two-horse race to take Leicester Tigers job
Paul Gustard and Stuart Lancaste r have emerged as two leading candidates in the race to fill the vacant Leicester head coach role next season, Telegraph Sport can reveal. Lancaster, who coached England at the 2015 World Cup before a feted stint as senior coach of Leinster, was sacked by Racing 92 with immediate effect last month after fewer than two seasons on the outskirts of Paris and with the French heavyweights in 13th place in the Top 14 table. Gustard, meanwhile, is currently head coach at Racing 92's local rivals, Stade Français, who currently sit bottom of the Top 14 table, having been promoted this season from the position of defence coach with the Parisians having conceded the fewest points in France's top division during the last campaign. The 49-year-old spent five seasons at Leicester as a flanker, moving to London Irish and then Saracens before transitioning into coaching. Telegraph Sport understands that it is now virtually a two-horse race between the pair, both of whom have international experience. Graham Rowntree, Leicester's legendary prop and the former Munster head coach, is thought to have slipped down the pecking order in recent weeks. Another overseas candidate remains in the picture but both Gustard and Lancaster are ahead in the order of preference with the Tigers. Michael Cheika, the current head coach who has been linked with the Wales and Australia vacancies, will leave Leicester at the end of the season after one campaign in charge, with his young family having returned to their native Australia. There is still the possibility that the 57-year-old remains as a consultant director of rugby with a head coach on-site in Leicester, although that would be dependent on several factors including Cheika not taking a job elsewhere. The Tigers are currently fourth in the Premiership table and travel to Glasgow in the last 16 of the Champions Cup next month. The arrival of Lancaster, 55, at Mattioli Woods Welford Road would mark his first job in English rugby for almost 10 years, since he was sacked as the national team coach after the 2015 World Cup. Gustard, who was defence coach at Saracens and who won a Six Nations Grand Slam as an assistant to Eddie Jones with England, has not coached in his native country since his 2021 dismissal as head coach of Harlequins. The former flanker was, however, on Steve Borthwick's final two-man shortlist to replace Felix Jones as England defence coach, with Joe El-Abd eventually preferred. Between Harlequins and Stade Français, Gustard was defence coach of Benetton in Italy. The Tigers, who are currently recruiting their eighth head coach in as many seasons, had been planning for Cheika's potential departure long before the Australian's confirmation last month, although given Lancaster's employment with Racing 92, he was not part of that initial planning. Part of the attraction with Lancaster is that he is available immediately, meaning that he could participate in a potential handover with Cheika for the rest of the season. Gustard remains under contract in Paris. The likelihood of Richard Wigglesworth, England's senior assistant coach and a former Premiership winner with Leicester, returning to the Tigers is understood to have diminished but it should not be ruled out entirely given that he is held in extremely high regard in the corridors of power at Welford Road. Franco Smith and Felix Jones were both on Leicester's initial shortlist but their candidacies did not progress, while Steve Diamond, Newcastle's consultant director of rugby, discussed the position with the Tigers but that dialogue never progressed to a formal stage.
