Rugby: Ambitious and educational, Laurent Labit’s Stade Français begins its adventure

Once the score comparison is over, it’s time for the good news: the French stadium turns pink again. The recent qualifying positions confirm this, as do the results since the beginning of the season. With three wins in four matches, a podium is not far away (fourth). This Saturday, November 4 (5 p.m.), the Parisians welcome Castre (II) to Jean-Boin’s lair to find him. With a completely new management introduced this week: Laurent Labette, Director of Rugby, and Karim Ghezzal, Head Coach, have officially taken up their positions after four years with the French team. They will replace interim Paul Gustard, who remains defense coach, and Morgan Parra, who is in charge of attack.

“I am proud to join this historic club,” said Laurent Labet. My mission is to implement an innovative, high-performance and high-level sporting project so that the club continues to exist and win titles. A club sports project, focusing not only on the professional team but also on training: having the same culture, the same vision, the same philosophy. We must have ambitious goals, we must play in all competitions and have the ability to win titles every year. The project is on track thanks to the work of Gonzalo Quesada until last season and Paul Gustard and Morgan Parra since the start of the season. »

“Our project will survive if training is at a standard level.”

One of the first decisions: reducing professional contracts. In the break, the number of Stade Français players rose from 44 to 37 professional players. “Our idea is to reach the age of 35 to allow our young people to play,” explains Laurent Labet. Last year, 15 professional players played fewer than 5 games in a season. We prefer to nurture young people and our project will survive if the training is up to standards.” A task entrusted to Kobus Potgieter, Performance Director. The club has already identified 14 high-potential people within it who will eventually enhance training and competition. “We have gems like Motasi (Thibaut, scrum-half), From the generation of 2005. “We have to take that into account,” Labbett says.

In accordance with the wishes of owner and president Hans-Peter Wild, Stade Français also aims to recruit better. Fly-half Joris Segunds, who will join Bayonne next season, will have to be replaced. The latter, who suffered a concussion last Sunday, will not be present against Caster. This week Paris welcomed two new faces: New Zealand midfielder Brad Webber and Argentine right column Francisco Gomez Kudela, who recently finished fourth in the World Cup. “We need to improve the way we work,” Labbett continues. We already know the player profile we need for the future. » Once again, the stadium will appear to be the first in its lineup.

In terms of day-to-day operations, Laurent Labette is above all a “supervisor” and “manager of staff and players”. “My aim is to make the coaches comfortable so that they only care about the field,” says the director of rugby, for the first time alone as a number one in his career. It’s a new challenge for me too. I will have another way to work. Karim (Ghazal) has very great potential. » Finally, Stade Français hopes to capitalize on last season’s average attendance (11,000 spectators) and the potential impact of the World Cup. “We’ll see that soon,” smiles Thomas Lombard, general manager. See you this Saturday at Jean Point.