Azema exit confirmed, destination unknown...
Franck Azema’s last chance of winning the Champions Cup with Clermont – the one trophy to so far elude him– lives on after their 27-25 defeat of Wasps yesterday.
Coach Azema has reached the final three times with the Jaunards, as backs coach in 2013, and as head coach in 2015 and 2017. The club has won the Top 14 title twice on his coaching watch – in 2011 and 2017, and a Challenge Cup crown in 2019.
At the end of February, it was announced that Azema was to be released from the final two years of his contract.
Rumours had long been swirling that he was being courted by Mohed Altrad to take over from interim head coach Philippe Saint-Andre at Montpellier. The news that he was leaving Clermont merely added to the speculation.
He said days after his departure from Marcel Michelin was confirmed: “The rumours, frankly ... I have already expressed myself on my departure. But as for my future, today, no one knows – not even me.”
Some reports suggested he may look overseas for his next challenge – it has even been speculated that he may be in line for a stint with the All Blacks – but Montpellier just keeps cropping up.
To date, however, nothing has been confirmed.
This week, as he prepared his side to face Wasps at the Ricoh Arena, Azema repeated his insistence that he still has no idea where he will be on July 1, the date French clubs traditionally begin their preseason.
While the mystery surrounding Azema’s future continues, there is as much interest in who will be sitting in the Clermont hotseat next season.
President Jean-Michel Guillon has said that he has given himself until the end of this month to identify Azema’s successor, which gives the rumour mill plenty of time to spin.
Already, it seems that former France coach Guy Noves has declined an offer to come in on a short-term deal, saying that, at 67, he’s too old to take the reins again. Other highly respected coaches said to have declined Guillon’s advances are Crusaders’ Scott Robertson – whose future in New Zealand is still up in the air and who has also been linked to the England job in recent weeks – Leinster’s Stuart Lancaster, and Azema’s predecessor Joe Schmidt.
Another option that appears to have gone cold is that of Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill. Interest has waned amid speculation that the former England international who played two seasons at Marcel Michelin may be lined up for a future shot at the Scotland job.
But there are, according to reports in France, no shortage of possible candidates – chief among them, as mentioned in TRP previously, La Rochelle’s Jono Gibbes. He knows the set-up well, as he was forwards coach at the club for three seasons before leaving for Ulster, Waikato and then returning to French shores at Stade Marcel Deflandre.
He is still under contract as sporting director at the Atlantic coast club, but the whisper in France is that president Vincent Merling, who recently lost out on the LNR presidency, believes that head coach Ronan O’Gara may well be ready for the big chair at La Rochelle.
Another is a protege of Noves – not hard to find in the Top 14 – Yannick Bru, right. Former Toulouse and France forwards coach Bru is currently in charge at Bayonne and working relative miracles on a fraction of the budget that would be at his disposal in the Auvergne.
The Basque side have beaten Clermont, Toulon, Racing, Lyon, Stade Francais, Agen, Montpellier and Brive to make Top 14 survival allbut certain.
Like Gibbes at La Rochelle, Bru is under contract until 2023, meaning Clermont would have to negotiate his release. And the club would also have to negotiate with Brive for another possible candidate – the never less than impressive Jeremy Davidson.
Local newspaper La Montagne reported last week that former international back row Olivier Magne – a Clermont player for nearly a decade between 1995 and 2005 – was being considered for the job.
His name had been mentioned in dispatches, but was routinely dismissed. Now, it seems the option of the former Brive and France U20 coach should be taken more seriously – though it’s probably fair to say he’s well down the pecking order. Meanwhile, Xavier Garbajosa, who is currently out of work after being sacked from Montpellier in January, is set to make a rapid return to top-flight coaching.
He is being lined up to join the staff at Stade Francais, working under Gonzalo Quesada – who is keen to extend his own stay at the club beyond 2022, reports say.
Finally, Castres’ coaching pair Pierre-Henry Broncon and David Darricarrere have signed contract extensions following the departure of Mauricio Reggiardo, who wasted no time landing the senior role at ProD2 side Aix-en-Provence after effectively being relieved of his duties in December.
Since Broncon was named head coach in that reshuffle, Castres have moved up from 13th place on December 27 to eighth – and even have an puncher’s chance of making the endof-season play-offs.
“Chief among the candidates to replace Azema is La Rochelle’s Jono Gibbes”