Latest news with #PaulGustard
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Stade Francais owner backs Gustard after relegation scare
Stade Francais' billionaire owner Hans-Peter Wild on Sunday gave his full backing to Englishman Paul Gustard as head coach after the Parisians staved off the threat of relegation from the Top 14 in the last game of the regular season. The 14-time French champions needed a win over Castres on Saturday to confirm their top-flight status after a sluggish campaign Advertisement 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. Advertisement "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. Advertisement - '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. Advertisement "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. Advertisement "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. Whoever comes in will need to settle quickly if Gustard is to restore Stade Francais to the top end of French rugby. iwd/bsp/pb
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Tigers pull 'wildcard' with 'very sharp' Parling
He was greeted as a "wildcard appointment", has been admired as a "very sharp student of the game" and is seen by one former team-mate as a "big coup" for Leicester Geoff Parling returns to Tigers in the summer after 10 years away, he will do so as a rookie head coach with a big 41-year-old former England lock, who earned three British & Irish Lions caps while playing for Leicester, where he won two Premiership titles in six years, replaces a coach of world renown in Michael months, Tigers' search for Cheika's successor had the club linked to a multitude of high-profile coaching Francais coach and ex-Harlequins head of rugby Paul Gustard and ex-Munster head coach Graham Rowntree were two former Tigers that were favourites for the job at different times,, external as was ex-England boss Stuart Lancaster and even former New Zealand player and assistant coach Leon assistant Parling, whose entire coaching career to date has been spent working Down Under after he retired as a player in 2018, was the surprise choice."He hadn't been mentioned at all," said former Leicester Tigers and England winger Tom Varndell, whose first spell with Tigers ended in 2009 before Parling moved to Mattioli Woods Welford Road from Newcastle."Geoff is a bit of a wildcard, but I think he is a really good one."It's someone that knows the club, he has been part of successful Tigers teams, has learned his trade as a coach in the southern hemisphere and he will bring a huge amount of experience from that back to Leicester." Former Tigers hooker George Chuter, who played alongside Parling throughout the lock's time at Leicester, says his former team-mate appears to have "come up on the inside rail and snuck in at the end" to get the Parling was not a name being "bandied around" during the months in which speculation around the job swirled, Chuter says getting him back is a "big coup".He describes Parling as a "very intelligent and very sharp" thinker who will have a "deep appreciation for what it takes" to make Tigers successful."Geoff was a player that had to study the game," Chuter told BBC East Midlands Today."If you were to describe someone who maximised their talent, I think that would be Geoff because he wasn't the most naturally gifted rugby player. He looked about 48 years old when he was 25, so he is that sort of guy."He had a really great work ethic, physical skills he worked on but his brain was two or three steps ahead of most other people."That has stood him in good stead as a player and in what is already a pretty successful coaching career. And it certainly will stand him in good stead as he goes into what is a very tough environment in the Premiership." Cheika the 'forever coach' And with Parling being the ninth head coach Tigers have had in nine years, it's arguable there are no more demanding conditions to work under than those in took the job "very last-minute" when fellow Australian Dan McKellar – who, like Parling, left his role as Wallabies assistant when he took over as Tigers head coach in 2023 – got through only one year of a "long-term deal" with the length of Parling's contract has been described the same is something Tigers back-rower Hanro Liebenberg has previously said Leicester need to find in Cheika's himself spoke about "stability and all that business" after Parling's role was announced, but said that trying to deliver a Premiership title this season is the "best thing" he can do to help the incoming that may not be all, as Cheika remains keen to stay in touch with the club after his asked if he would "pick up the phone" if Parling ever had a question in future, Cheika replied: "Yes, of course."And I've said it to the guys here - once I've coached them, I'm coaching them forever. You ask these guys to do things for you all the time, and the respect they show is something that is a big connector."It goes without saying that if that is necessary, then, of course, yes."
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.
