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Agen president has pop at Ibitoye amid transfer speculation

(Photo by Romain Perrocheau/AFP via Getty Images)

Agen president Jean-Francois Fonteneau has criticised former Harlequins winger Gabriel Ibitoye following speculation that he could be on the move again just six months after he inked a two-year deal with the Top 14 club that required Agen to pay the Londoners a compensation fee.

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Ibitoye has made seven appearances and scored two tries so far for Agen, six in the league where the club are running last of the 14 teams,  having failed to win a single one of their 14 outings so far.

His most recent appearance came in the early December Challenge Cup loss to London Irish and media reports in France now claim he has a number of options available to him, both for the remainder of this season and into next season as well. 

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According to Midi Olympique, Bayonne inquired about Ibitoye some time ago with a view to joining next season but a temporary move to Montpellier has been mooted where he would numerically compensate as a medical joker for the long-term absence of the injured Handre Pollard. The South African hurt his knee in September and won’t be back until next summer, leaving Montpellier with the scope to bring in someone to bolster their squad in some way. 

Montpellier have been in crisis recently, axing coach Xavier Garbajosa and getting director Phillipe Saint-Andre to take a hands-on role with a team that is currently 13th in the Top 14 with three wins from twelve games, two points behind Bayonne and Pau in the battle for safety. Aside from Bayonne, Toulon are also reportedly looking to sign Ibitoye, who turns 23 in March, for next season.  

Speculation about the possible departure of Ibitoye has annoyed Agen rugby president Fonteneau. He told Sud-Ouest“He [Ibitoye] hasn’t been involved since the start of the season. He doesn’t invest a lot. He has a Pro D2 clause which allows him to leave in the event of a downhill at the end of the season. He is, therefore, more in the management of his career rather than involvement with the club.”

It was last October, in an interview with The XV, that Ibitoye claimed his game was more suited to club rugby in France rather than in England. “English rugby, in my opinion, is more structured,” he said.  “Here, when I get the ball, I look up and think, ‘okay, what are these defenders doing and how do I beat them?’

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“The primary job of outside backs is to beat defenders and get the team going forward… because it’s a lot less structured (in France). Players can create something out of nothing and it highlights individual brilliance. That’s what I need to try and improve in my game. So I think French rugby is more suited to me.”

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Tom 5 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

That 2019 performance was literally the peak in attacking rugby under Eddie. If you thought that was underwhelming, the rest of it was garbage.

I totally get what you're saying and England don't need or have any God given right to the best coaches in the world... But I actually think the coaches we do have are quite poor and for the richest union in the world, that's not good enough. 


England are competitive for sure but with the talent pool up here and the funds available, we should be in the top 3. At the very least we should be winning six nations titles on a semi-regular basis. If Ireland can, England definitely should.


England's attack coach (Richard Wigglesworth) is Borthwick's mate from his playing days at Saracens, who he brought to Leicester with him when he became coach. Wigglesworth was a 9 who had no running or passing game, but was the best box kicker in the business. He has no credentials to be an attack coach and I've seen nothing to prove otherwise. Aside from Marcus Smith’s individual brilliance, our collective attack has looked very uninspiring.

 

England's defence coach (Joe El-Abd) is Borthwick's housemate from uni, who has never been employed as a defence coach before. He's doing the job part time while he's still the head coach of a team in the second division of French rugby who have an awful defensive record. England's defence has gone from being brutally efficient under Felix Jones to as leaky as a colander almost overnight.


If Borthwick brings in a new attack and defence coach then I'll absolutely get behind him but his current coaches seem to be the product of nepotism. He's brought in people he's comfortable with because he lacks confidence as an international head coach and they aren't good enough for international rugby.


England are competitive because they do some things really well, mostly they front up physically, make a lot of big hits, have a solid kicking game, a good lineout, good maul, Marcus Smith and some solid forwards. A lot of whst we do well I would ascribe to Borthwick personally. I don't think he's a bad coach, I think he lacks imagination and is overly risk averse. He needs coaches who will bring a point of difference.


I guess my point is, yes England are competitive, but we’re not aiming for competitive and I honestly don't believe this coaching setup has what it takes to make us any better than competitive.

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