Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

France should do 'whatever it takes' to sign Joe Schmidt

Joe Schmidt. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

The French Rugby Federation should throw the chequebook at Joe Schmidt in order to sign him as head coach of their national side, according to former England and British and Irish Lions wing Ugo Monye.

ADVERTISEMENT

Les Bleus are enduring a turbulent period under the guidance of current head coach Jacques Brunel, who has lost the faith of his players who are reportedly plotting a revolt against him following an extremely poor run of results.

Under Brunel’s stewardship, France have lost nine of their last 10 tests, which have included a first-ever loss to Fiji, their biggest defeat to England in more than a century, a second half capitulation which led to defeat against Wales, and a three-match series pummelling at the hands of New Zealand last year.

Their losses to Wales and England over the last fortnight means their Six Nations aspirations have been left in tatters with three matches still to play, and this has been reflected in the world rankings, where they have slipped below second-tier Fiji into an all-time low of 10th place.

Now just seven months out from the World Cup, Monye said that the French are the worst-coached team in the Six Nations, and believes that they need to sign a New Zealand coach to fix their woes.

Monye highlighted Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt as a prime candidate to resurrect France as a leading power within the world rugby landscape given his capabilities as a coach.

“I would be paying whatever it is to get Joe Schmidt to France,” he said on the BBC.

Video Spacer

As the reigning World Rugby Coach of the Year, Schmidt has led Ireland to their most successful period in the professional era, elevating them to as high as second on the world rankings after claiming their maiden two victories over the All Blacks, clinching three Six Nations titles in their last five campaigns, and winning World Team of the Year for the first time last year.

ADVERTISEMENT

Schmidt comes off contract with the Ireland Rugby Football Union at the end of this year’s World Cup, and has publicly stated he intends to take time away from the game to focus on his family, with his son suffering from epilepsy and having previously battled a brain tumour when he was younger.

But Monye believes that the FFR need to do everything in their power to get Schmidt on board, stating that France’s lack of southern hemisphere influence has left them behind their Six Nations rivals.

The 35-year-old said that the French language barrier has prevented top quality southern hemisphere coaches – such as Schmidt, Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland – from taking the reigns of the French national side.

“You can get anyone in the southern hemisphere to come up and coach in the northern hemisphere, in England, Wales, Ireland or Scotland and it’s no problem,” the 16-test international said.

“But to try to get the message across [in France] is so difficult.”

However, Schmidt has previous coaching experience in France, having assisted fellow New Zealander Vern Cotter at Clermont from 2007 to 2010, and has a good understanding of the language, making him an ideal candidate for the job.

“He coached there [with Clermont] for a few years and he’s fluent in French,” Monye said.

There are many southern hemisphere coaches currently plying their trade in the Top 14, with former Scotland coach Cotter in charge of Montpellier, while former Springboks boss Heyneke Meyer is head coach of Stade Francais.

ADVERTISEMENT

In other news:

Video Spacer

 

ADVERTISEMENT

Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

USA vs England | Men's International | Full Match Replay

France v Argentina | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

Lions Share | Episode 4

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

S
Soliloquin 2 hours ago
Competing interests and rotated squads: What the 'player welfare summer' is really telling us

I don’t know the financial story behind the changes that were implemented, but I guess clubs started to lose money, Mourad Boudjellal won it all with Toulon, got tired and wanted to invest in football , the French national team was at its lowest with the QF humiliation in 2015 and the FFR needed to transform the model where no French talent could thrive. Interestingly enough, the JIFF rule came in during the 2009/2010 season, so before the Toulon dynasty, but it was only 40% of the players that to be from trained in French academies. But the crops came a few years later, when they passed it at the current level of 70%.

Again, I’m not a huge fan of under 18 players being scouted and signed. I’d rather have French clubs create sub-academies in French territories like Wallis and Futuna, New Caledonia and other places that are culturally closer to RU and geographically closer to rugby lands. Mauvaka, Moefana, Taofifenua bros, Tolofua bros, Falatea - they all came to mainland after starting their rugby adventure back home.

They’re French, they come from economically struggling areas, and rugby can help locally, instead of lumping foreign talents.

And even though many national teams benefit from their players training and playing in France, there are cases where they could avoid trying to get them in the French national team (Tatafu).

In other cases, I feel less shame when the country doesn’t believe in the player like in Meafou’s case.

And there are players that never consider switching to the French national team like Niniashvili, Merckler or even Capuozzo, who is French and doesn’t really speak Italian.

We’ll see with Jacques Willis 🥲


But hey, it’s nothing new to Australia and NZ with PI!

109 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING John Barclay makes concerning Owen Farrell observation despite Test spot calls Barclay makes concerning Farrell observation despite Test spot calls