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'A lot of people were bullied... he was a real Jekyll and Hyde of coaching'
By Liam Heagney
Ex-Scotland international Johnnie Beattie has described Fabien Galthie as the Jekyll and Hyde of coaching.
The 34-year-old back row called time in his playing career in January having played for Glasgow Warriors, Montpellier and Castres forward finished with a three-year stint at Bayonne.
Along the way, he earned 38 caps for Scotland and his country’s latest outing in the Guinness Six Nations has had him reminiscing about France coach Galthie who signed him for Montpellier in 2012.
“He's the best technical coach I worked with,” said Beattie in a BBC interview leading up to Sunday’s match at Murrayfield where the Grand Slam-chasing French are chasing their fourth successive win of the 2020 campaign.
“He was absolutely fantastic, ahead of the curve, but he struggled with player management. He struggled with being a decent human you want to buy into and work for. People bought into the fantastic rugby we played, not the culture or environment he would provide.
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“Even back then, I was with guys like (All Black) Rene Ranger, (France fly-half) Francois Trinh-Duc and (ex-Georgia captain) Mamuka Gorgodze and we all said this guy would be absolutely amazing in an international environment where he is not with players week in, week out. And it’s pretty evident that he is leading that resurgence with the French national team.”
Beattie suggests that life at Montpellier under Galthie was “survival of the fittest” as plenty of players cracked due to the savage set-up.
“I remember (assistant coach) Mario Ledesma screaming at a tight-head prop in a scrummaging session to try and work his way through the scrum to get the cheeseburger at the other side of it because he’s a fat pig. I laugh now, but when you’re in the environment, it was complete humiliation.
“Some people crumbled and didn’t stay very long - a few capped internationals came and went within two or three months. A lot of people had their confidence destroyed, needed to get out, or were bullied.
“He was a real Jekyll and Hyde of coaching in that he was absolutely wonderful in technical stuff but also very capable of burning personal relationships and burning a club environment. I struggled to stomach how he was with other people.”
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I have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
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