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Bernard Laporte tweets reply to claim he is joining Galthie's France
By Liam Heagney
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.
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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