Top 14: Laurent Seigne departs as
Brive crisis deepens; Albi's Eric Béchu offers to go
27
October 2009
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Testing times: Shaun Perry and
company have had a tough start
© Diarmid Courreges |
The current crisis enveloping Brive
has deepened with confirmation that manager Laurent
Seigne has now left the club, just one week after
honorary president Patrick Sebastian resigned.
Sebastien had said that Seigne would be
next to go when he announced his own departure at the
beginning of last week, and now his prophecy has rung true
following the club's latest reverse - a 10-18 home defeat to
Racing-Metro 92 on Saturday.
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That loss was Brive's fourth on the trot,
their sixth in their last seven games and their eighth in 12
matches overall this season. They currently lie 11th in Top
14 and have lost both of their Heineken Cup matches to date.
It is a sorry state of affairs for a club
that had openly stated its desire to better last season's
sixth placed finish.
"We regret the departure of Laurent
Seigne," said Brive's English chief executive Simon Gillham.
"He led the club in th Heineken Cup and has greatly
contributed to our success over the past two years. The club
wishes him every success for the rest of his career," added
Gillham.
Assistant coach Ugo Mola - said to be
more popular with the players than Seigne - has now been
promoted to the position of head coach, and he will be
assisted by Christophe Laussucq and former Espoirs coach
Didier Casadei.
Seigne is the second head coach to lose his job in Top
14 this season - following
Ewen McKenzie's sacking by Stade
Francais earlier in the campaign - but he
probably won't be the last.
Indeed, Eric Béchu offered to resign
from his post at basement club SCA Albi on Monday,
writing an open letter to the club's supporters following
their 20-6 defeat at Montauban on Saturday.
Their latest defeat was
their ninth in 10 league games and leaves them eight points
adrift at the foot of the table following their promotion
from ProD2 last season.
"As sporting director and
coach of this club I assume responsibility for the failure
of the current season," wrote Béchu. "This is the first time
in my 20-year coaching career that I am faced with such a
series of defeats. As such, I said to my president and the
board that if thy felt a replacement was in their view the
best solution for a return to winning ways then it would not
affect the friendship that binds us.
"I am prepared for this
event - an inherent necessity in coaching - and I will leave
without rancour if they ask me to," he added.
A supporters' meeting is
due to be held at the club at 6.30pm on Thursday but Albi
president Bernard Archilla said he hoped that Béchu would
remain in place. "There is no shadow of a difference between
Eric Béchu, the board and myself," he told Midi Olympique.
Meanwhile, the fallout
from McKenzie's sacking by Stade has resurfaced this week
after the Australian laid into his former employers, saving
his most savage remarks for flamboyant president Max
Guazzini.
"Stade Francais is the
best team in the world in terms of marketing," said
McKenzie. "It's an international brand. But on the level of
their sporting approach some things are shocking. Paris are
verging on amateurism," he added.
McKenzie went to say that
Guazzini's outlook was dominated by the club's famous 'Dieux
du Stade' calendar and his desire to switch as many games as
possible to the Stade de France.
"He has a marketing
outlook which is not always in the best interests of sport.
For example, Max could recruit one player over another just
because he has a better look for the calendar. I had players
in my squad who I never chose. Others were requested to
leave the club because they didn't want to pose for the
calendar any more. I had certain players forced on me who,
for me, shouldn't have been in a team targetting the Top 14
title."
Unsurprisingly, McKenzie's
comments didn't go down well with Guazzini, who retorted:
"From A to Z everything he said was rubbish, Professionally
speaking, ask the players, he didn't work, he did absolutely
nothing. In terms of recruitment, we did exactly what he
asked of us."
McKenzie is now head coach
of Queensland Reds and Guazzini added that the Australian's
comments were mere self-justification.
"He has found a job in
Australia, and it is imperative for him to justify the
reasons why Stade Francais, which is a well-known club in
Australia, sacked him and all he comes up with are
derogatory remarks," added Guazzini.
Ouch.
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