Top 14: Toulon welcome White,
but not Habana; Castres confirm coaching shake-up
10 December
2008
Former
Springbok coach Jake White has acknowledged he’s got his
work cut out at Toulon after starting his three-week
consultancy stint with the Top 14 strugglers.
White,
who has been called in to work alongside head coach Tana
Umaga, admitted he didn’t see much to smile about when
watching the club’s 14-10 European Challenge Cup defeat in
Montpellier.
“The
scrum and defence was okay, but the lineout was very poor
and the kicking game only average,” he told AFP.
Toulon
president Mourad Boudjellal got White on board in an
advisory role after a string of disappointing results saw
the Top 14 newcomers edge ever nearer the relegation zone.
The
outspoken president is desperate to ensure his massive
player investment is not wasted with a swift return to Pro
D2.
“This
week I am going to first of all observe how the team
prepares for Saturday’s match. Then I will prepare an
analysis on what can be improved,” said White.
But he
added that Boudjellal’s brief had also been for him to draw
up a longer-term strategy too.
“I am
not only here to give advice as a consultant, but also to
assess whether Toulon can become stronger in the next two
years and become French champions,” he said.
Boudjellal certainly has the budget to recruit star names –
as his acquisition of Jerry Collins, Joe van Niekerk and
Sonny Bill Williams testifies – but there remain question
marks over Umaga’s coaching skills.
If
reports in the French press are to be believed it would
appear that the former All Black’s days are numbered, with
soon-to-depart Sale coach Philippe Saint-Andre rumoured to
be next in line for the job.
However,
it appears that one star name not coming to Toulon next
season is former IRB Player of the Year Bryan Habana.
Rumours
emerged of the possible signing after Habana was quoted
recently saying he fancied a stint in Top 14, but his father
Bernie has denied Toulon, or any other French club, has yet
made contact with the Springbok wing.
“We,
Bryan and myself, haven’t asked anybody to speak on our
behalf and we haven’t been approached by anybody about any
contracts beyond 2009,” said Habana senior.
“His
focus is on 2009 because he has made it clear that he has
always had two goals – one to win the World Cup and the
other to beat the British and Irish Lions. Hopefully next
year he can fulfil the second one.”
Meanwhile, fellow strugglers Castres have confirmed
that director of rugby Alain Gaillard will not have his
contract renewed and that Montauban’s highly rated coaching
duo Laurent Travers and Laurent Labit have been signed for
next season.
The
announcement, made by Castres’ caretaker president
Jean-Philippe Swiadek, is bizarrely timed with over half of
the Top 14 season remaining. The club is currently deep in
the relegation mire and surely this will do nothing to
improve low morale.
But
Swiadek, who stepped up from manager last week following
Pierre-Yves Revol’s election as president of the Ligue
Nationale de Rugby (LNR), said he felt an immediate
announcement was necessary.
“Some
people thought it was too early but I believe quite to the
contrary – that it is imperative to build our team from now
till then,” he said.
Swiadek
has been impressed by Labit and Travers’ work with
Montauban, and is also friends with the former from their
time together as players with Castres – where they won the
French championship in 1993.
That
seems an age away from today’s gloomy scenario with Castres
presently 13th in the league and bottom of their
Heineken Cup pool after losing all three of their matches so
far. Further reports that internationals Lionel Nallet and
Sebastien Tillous-Borde want to leave will hardly have
helped team unity.
The
arrival of the two Laurents is likely to spell the end of
the road for the club’s Irish coaching pair of Jeremy
Davidson and Mark McCall. The latter is tipped for a return
home, while Davidson, a former Castres player, could stay on
as forwards coach.
Finally,
the LNR has confirmed that the Top 14 semi-final
play-offs will take place on the weekend of the May 29/30.
Bordeaux’s Chaban-Delmas Stadium and Lyon’s Stade Gerland
will host the games, with the final being played at the
Stade de France on June 6.
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