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Irishman in temporary charge at Toulon following Collazo sacking

(Photo by Getty Images)

Toulon have called time on the reign of head coach Patrice Collazo following Sunday night’s Top 14 hammering at La Rochelle which left the three-time European champions drifting in 13th place, 19 points behind leaders Toulouse after just eight rounds of matches. 

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In charge since 2018, Collazo’s side have been very weak on their travels this term, losing 41-10 at Toulouse, 12-9 at Perpignan 27-16 at Castres and 39-6 at La Rochelle, that latest away defeat coming on the back of a home defeat to Racing. 

It has left the club in the relegation playoff spot in the Top 14 and rather than allow the situation to potentially worsen under Collazo ahead of Saturday’s huge game at home to fellow strugglers Biarritz, Toulon decided they needed to take drastic action quickly. 

Video Spacer

An All Black, a France squad and a disappearing act

Benji and Johnnie are back to dissect Fabien Galthie’s France squad for the autumn internationals and give their view on who will make the first choice XV and who will captain the side in Charles Ollivon’s absence. Plus, we’re joined by former All Black Francis Saili to fill us in on everything going on in Biarritz from whether the club is moving to Lille to naked plane rides and six-figure sums spent on yachts in Ibiza amid their celebrations at the end of last season! Oh and we end the show a man down in mysterious circumstances…

Video Spacer

An All Black, a France squad and a disappearing act

Benji and Johnnie are back to dissect Fabien Galthie’s France squad for the autumn internationals and give their view on who will make the first choice XV and who will captain the side in Charles Ollivon’s absence. Plus, we’re joined by former All Black Francis Saili to fill us in on everything going on in Biarritz from whether the club is moving to Lille to naked plane rides and six-figure sums spent on yachts in Ibiza amid their celebrations at the end of last season! Oh and we end the show a man down in mysterious circumstances…

A statement from the club read: “Rugby Club Toulon and Patrice Collazo have decided, by mutual agreement, to end their collaboration. The preparation for the Toulon-Biarritz match is now entrusted to the Toulon staff led by James Coughlan. Bernard Lemaitre will hold a press conference this Friday at the RCT Campus.”

The soon-to-be 41-year-old Coughlan only joined Toulon as an assistant in the off-season having previously coached at Brive, Provence and Pau. He is a former Munster teammate of Ronan O’Gara, the current La Rochelle boss.

There is speculation that the Irishman and fellow assistant Julien Dupuy could be left to steer the team for the next two games before a replacement for Collazo is recruited for the November 27 resumption of the league following a three-week break after the November 7 trip to Clermont. 

Two names immediately linked to the vacancy were Franck Azema, the recent ex-Clermont boss, and Xavier Garbajosa, who has been on the market since exiting Montpellier last January. Another possible candidate is Lyon boss Pierre Mignoni, who was Bernard Laporte’s assistant during the Toulon glory years of three European Cup and one Top 14 title. His stumbling block is a contract tying him to Lyon until 2023.

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N
NB 42 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Nice bit if revisioniusm but that's all it is JW.


For your further education, I found the following breakdown of one prominent club's finances in the Top 14 [Clermont].


For Clermont (budget of €29.5 million for 2021-2022) :

- 20% from ticket sales

- 17% from the LNR (includes TV Rights, compensation from producing french internationals and other minor stuff)

- 5% from public collectivities (so you're looking at funds from the city of Clermont, the department of Puy-De-Dôme and the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)

- 4% from merchandising and events

- 3% from miscellaneous

- 51 % from sponsorships and partnerships. They've got 550 different partners. The main ones are CGI, Groupama, Limagrain/Jacquet, Omerin, Paprec, Renault and of course Michelin (not surprising since they're actually the founders of the club).


As you can see nothing comes from the FFR at all. The LNR is a separate entitiy to FFR and their aims frequently do not accord.


It is also why the European breakaway plotted by LNR and PR back in 2013 had nothing to do with the governing bodies of either England or France - and it most certainly did not have their blessing https://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/15331030/jean-pierre-lux-anglo-french-cup-detrimental-european-rugby


And from the horse's mouth [ex AB skipper Sean Fitapatrick] about the comp between Top 14 and Super Rugby:


"The Top 14 in France is probably the best rugby competition in the world at the moment, purely for the week-in, week-out.”


“I think the quality of players. They are bigger, they are faster, they are stronger. Which then carries on into the international game.”

Take it from someone who knows JW😅

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