Why did Phillip Gardnt go to farm exchange in New Zealand

Former international American football and volleyball, but also ski and rugby player, Philippe Gardent, head of physical readiness at Stade Rochelais, is curious by nature with multiple lives. He was part of the Marseille rugby team in 2009, with manager Alain Hayardet, video analyst Anthony Ano (now in Toulon) and Angus Jardinet, New Zealand…

Former international American football and volleyball, but also ski and rugby player, Philippe Gardent, head of physical readiness at Stade Rochelais, is curious by nature with multiple lives. He was part of the Marseille rugby team in 2009, with manager Alain Hayardet, video analyst Anthony Ano now in Toulon and Angus Jardinet, coach of the New Zealand forwards. Now General Manager of the Canterbury Crusaders, he opened the door to a club recognized as the best in the world.

“We created a lot of connections, played a lot of different roles within the Crusaders. I had to go there in 2020, the year of Covid, to discuss with them and share our views, to see what might be transferable or non-transferable given our commitments, ie 4 months. Of competition on one side and 10 months on the other; the All Blacks are limited to 5 consecutive games when international players have no limits.

“we have been heard”

Three years later, the opportunity presented itself more as in November, Philip Gardnett met Scott Robertson, Crusaders manager and future coach of the All Blacks. The latter instructed him on the crew of the British Barbarians, in the company of Ronan O’Gara. A few months later, he laid his bags at Gardiner’s house during the winter holidays.

“I asked to be part of a personal development program, to water my brain plants a little”

“The club supported me in this process, to the point of sending me there. I asked to be part of a personal development programme, to show my brain plants a little bit, it gave me the right and I thank them for it, it made me happy to see these others do it,” he says. . What sets him apart is that “we hear now. They are definitely 5-time Super Rugby winners in a row, but we’re starting to show that we know what we’re talking about. And when we go there, we’re not seen as ‘they want to steal something from us’.” I really wanted to say: I take and give, you too. And this is wonderful, because it was so. It is true to their customs. »

No secrets

In this respect, Apivia Parc now also opens its doors to the outdoors. And so we saw Alex Tolo’s ex Al Black share the daily life of Rochelle. “Coaches, physicists, everyone can come. There is no secret in our profession, we all do the same things. The only difference is the way we do it, the quality of what we do. Those who think they have secrets, because they don’t know what others do (smiles). It is not what we do but how we do it that makes the difference.”

In New Zealand, Philip Gardnt met Mike Crone, member of the Black Crew from 2004 to 2019. He also visited all Crusaders divisions, approached their structure from the ground up, from children to adults: we operate and wondered how we could grow our business at all levels. With them, there is nothing crazy, everything is simple and very well done. They don’t invent anything but just repeat the details in the right way without complicating their lives any more, without looking for a new exercise. When it works, there aren’t a lot of changes from year to year. It’s “You know what we’re going to do, but we’re going to do it better than you.” It relaxes us in the sense that we often tell ourselves we have to change and break the routine. Yes, that’s right, but at the same time, it doesn’t have to be (laughs). »