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Altrad: Recent Montpellier bust-up, Cockerill's new role explained

(Photo by John Berry/Getty Images)

Montpellier president Mohed Altrad has looked back on his club’s failed season which involved two Test-level France players confronting title-winning boss Philippe Saint-Andre in the dressing room earlier this month.

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Defeat last Sunday to Pau meant that the 2021/22 French champions finished 11th on the table, nine points shy of Bordeaux in the sixth and final play-off spot.

However, what especially hurt Montpellier in their flawed title-retention bid was their May 6 home loss to Brive, the team that would go on to finish 14th and get relegated from the top flight. That defeat also prompted an altercation between Saint-Andre and French duo Mohamed Haouas and Paul Willemse.

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The pair reportedly had very harsh dressing room words for Saint-Andre, but Altrad opted not to sanction the players and he has now explained why in an end-of-season review interview published on rugbyrama.fr. “I have a philosophy on this kind of thing,” he began.

“There are two types of management in life: hierarchical management, where one individual decides and the others remain silent, and matrix organisation, where the boss comes to decide a debate, a discussion, an exchange of various ideas that has taken place beforehand.

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“What Mohamed Haouas and Paul Willemse said that day in the locker room, they had the right to say. Willemse put the substance and form into it. Haouas put the substance, not the form. But I didn’t want to punish them because they had the right to express themselves and they were telling the truth.

“That day, I had to intervene so that these people did not come to blows. This is not my role, but this kind of thing is anticipated. The abscess should have been punctured before.”

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Last Sunday marked the final weekend of Saint-Andre being hands-on with the team in a daily capacity, Altrad explaining what the 2022 Top 14 title winner will be doing in 2023/24. “He will do what I don’t have time to do in the club, marketing, partner relations, representation in the LNR…

“It will also develop the connection between the training centre and the professional team. Philippe will also have a weekly meeting with the leading players to talk to them about the MHR institution, the history of the jersey… He will send this message: no one is above the institution.”

It was February 7, three days after England were beaten by Scotland in Steve Borthwick’s first game in charge, when it was confirmed that Cockerill would be leaving at the end of the Guinness Six Nations campaign for Montpellier.

At the time, it was stated that the Test-level assistant would become forwards coach at the club, but it has now been confirmed by Altrad that he will wield a far greater influence than just looking after the pack.

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“Richard Cockerill will be the sports boss, assisted by Jean-Baptiste Elissalde,” explained Altrad. “Cockerill will take care of the forwards. Benoit Paillaugue returns to the club and will take the place of Bruce Reihana: the return of Benoit will do us good.

“Character, he has it. He is a motivator, a facilitator. As for Benson Stanley (Clermont), he will take charge of the team’s defence. Richard, Jean-Baptiste and Philippe say a lot of good things.”

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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