Prendergast: Stade move ‘now or never’ for O’Connell’s career
PAUL O’CONNELL arrived in Paris last night to begin his coaching career with Stade Francais.
And he will get little time to settle in as the squad leave tomorrow for a mini-camp in La Rochelle which will culminate on Friday with a preseason friendly against their Top 14 rivals, who are now coached by Jono Gibbes.
That clash with La Rochelle will be Stade’s final pre-season game — they went down 38-26 to Toulon on Friday evening — before they open their Top 14 campaign away to Paddy Jackson’s Perpignan on August 25.
O’Connell will link up with long-time friend and former Young Munster and Munster teammate Mike Prendergast as part of a new coaching ticket assembled by Heyneke Meyer at Stade Francais.
The former Springboks coach has been brought in by Dr Hans-Peter Wild, the Swiss billionaire owner of Capri Sun, who bought Stade Francais in May 2017 and embarked on a three-year project which he expects to result in them being crowned French champions.
Stade Francais are the second most successful side in France, having picked up their 14th Top 14 crown in 2015, with only Toulouse, with 19 Bouclier de Brennus titles, ahead of them in the roll of honour.
Prendergast, recruited as backs coach from relegated Oyonnax having previously worked with Bernard Jackman at Grenoble, played a key role in O’Connell moving to Stade Francais.
‘Initially, Heyneke was looking for a lineout coach. I would be in regular contact with Paul and mentioned it to him,’ revealed Prendergast.
‘He had just come back from France from the Under20 World Cup and it just evolved from there and he came out to Paris last week and the deal was done.
‘It’s a perfect fit for the club and it’s a perfect fit for Paul. He has dipped his toes in coaching with the Munster academy and then the Irish U20s and he felt the time was right to give this a go fulltime,’ he added.
‘In a way, it was sort of now or never, a year down the line he would be another season out of rugby, so the timing of this is good and Stade are delighted he has come on board to complete the coaching ticket,’ said Prendergast.
That coaching ticket also includes South African former French international Pieter de Villiers, who won five Top 14 crowns with Stade, and John McFarland, the ex-Springboks defence coach who has worked closely with Meyer.
O’Connell’s wife Emily and three young children will move with him to Paris and learning to speak French as quickly as possible is a top priority.
‘He will put huge effort into that,’ added Prendergast.
‘When he was here last week, he could hold conversation in French.’