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Bernard Laporte tweets reply to claim he is joining Galthie's France

(Photo by Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images)

Ex-France coach Bernard Laporte has taken to Twitter following a claim that he was reportedly set to join Fabien Galthie’s staff ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup. Laporte led the French national team for eight seasons at the turn of the millennium, coaching them to four Six Nations titles and two World Cup semi-final appearances.

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He followed that success with further glory at Toulon, winning a Top 14 title and a hat-trick of Heineken Champions Cups, before switching into rugby administration when elected president of the French federation in 2016. He went on to also become World Rugby vice-chairman but has since stepped back from those roles while under investigation.

In the meantime, he has been linked with a return to working with the France national team following on from a speech given to the squad in February prior to the start of the recent Guinness Six Nations, while he also presented the team with their jerseys for last month’s round five match versus Wales.

It was also claimed that he regularly exchanged text messages with players, highlighting his ongoing close relationship with Galthie and team manager Raphael Ibanez, a duo that played under him when he was the France boss during the noughties.

Le Parisien reported a formal collaboration could now take place between the France team and Laporte. A source claimed: “It was a desire at the end of the tournament to find Bernard a consulting function, a mission of accompaniment to the XV of France. A desire shared by Fabien and Raphael by way of recognition. He invested in the staff of the XV de France and gave them the means to achieve their ambitions.”

The story prompted Laporte to issue a response on his Twitter account denying that he is looking for a role with the team. “With Fabien Galthie, I built a staff of 30 people who have been working for four years,” he wrote.

“The results speak for themselves: more than 80 per cent of victories, Grand Slam, longest series of invincibility in the history of the XV of France… There is no reason to modify this staff.”

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BR2B 820 days ago

I don’t think the French squad need Laporte. Especially before the frauds he’s accused of are (eventually) dismissed

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BleedRed&Black 1 hour ago
Who is telling the truth about France's tour of New Zealand?

What you mean is that you have now put the hookers on the list, having edited them in after I pointed out their absence. Even then you missed out that Mauvaka is allegedly "eligible", when of course we all know that "eligible" means exactly what French rugby wants it to mean, and therefore a propaganda device designed to convince the credulous and protect the dishonest. I will leave you to make another edit.


It's nice to see what you and AlanP are finally admitting what is real, that France puts all its focus on its own domestic interests and gives Southern hemisphere rugby the leftovers. You finally admit that the way French Rugby is structured France's strongest squad, its 6N squad, will not play in the southern hemisphere. That is exactly what Bishop’s article is about, that the French rugby's claim that the leading French players have "played too much" to tour NZ is a fraud designed to explain away the fact this is purely a development tour for France, and therefore a betrayal of the spirit, if not the letter, of the international tours agreement. Someone really should let Bishop know his most extreme critics are finally admitting he is right. He will be very pleased.


It's worth emphasizing just how isolated France is in this. Every 6N team manages their players in a way that they allows them to tour the Southern Hemisphere with the strongest squad they have. Except France. Every 6N team, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, even Italy, live up to the spirit as well as the letter of the tours agreement. Except France. Ireland have delivered massively over the three years, winning three tests and narrowly losing two in their five tests in NZ and SA. Those were genuinely great series. Even the England series in NZ last year was excellent, crude but close with the English pouring everything into getting a win. The contrast between the efforts made by Ireland and England as against France is extreme. France instead sits back in its splendid isolation, sends NZ its third best, and lies that it is the best it can do. You have to wonder what Blanco and Sella and Berbizier and Rives, the greats of French rugby, men who gave their guts for France, in NZ as much as anywhere, think of French rugby's contempt for NZ rugby. And of the barrage of lies that have accompanied it.

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