1
Irishman Prendergast the big winner in Racing's coaching reshuffle
By Online Editors
Racing 92’s coaching staff will have a continental feel to it next season after boss Laurent Travers confirmed the reshuffle that will take place when his co-coach Laurent Labit moves on to work with the France nations team under Fabien Galthie.
Travers and Labit had been joined at the hip for more than decade, the pair winning Top 14 championships for Castres and Racing, but their partnership will now cease with Travers ready to embrace a staff with an Irish, Argentine and Kiwi influence.
Supporting Travers will be four assistants: Mike Prendergast (backs/attack), Patricio Noriega (forwards), Chris Masoe (defence) and Philippe Doussy (skills and footwork).
Travers’ recruitment of Prendergast will be viewed as something of a coup. The former Munster scrum-half has been working at Parisian rivals Stade Francais and had been courted by Toulon, whom he had signed a pre-contract with, as well as being linked with a vacancy at his province in Ireland.
Prendergast first moved to France from All-Ireland League club level, swopping Young Munster for Grenoble and then working at Oyonnax before switching to Paris last summer.
Stade recently defeated Racing in a gripping derby, a victory that would have helped Prendergast get the nudge on his rival for the job, the Jaguars boss Gonzalo Quesada. England's Rory Teague had also been linked to the Racing role.
"I was able to talk with him [Prendergast] for a long time in terms of the system of offensive play in three-quarters. That corresponded to my expectations, just as Gonzalo Quesada also met my expectations. This was played between the two and it is Mike who won.”
Doussy, who has been working with Jacques Brunel’s French national team, will not be going to the World Cup so he will be available for an immediate start, while Travers opted to maintain confidence in Noriega and Masoe rather than seek out replacements.
In other developments, Dimitri Szarzewski will work with the Racing academy while Casey Laulala, a close friend of Labit, is leaving.
WATCH: The RugbyPass video from the day Jim Hamilton met Finn Russell in Paris
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Fissler Confidential: Radwan eyed to replace exit-bound England wing
3
Stormers hand Leinster second humbling in a row
4
'Helped me out': Danny Care's take on avoiding 'stonewall' sending off
5
Latest Comments
You forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time.
Go to commentsDanny don't care. He pretends to care but he don't. He says all this stuff to justify his reasoning but no one can claim that legitimately. He knew exactly what he was doing and wondered if his old team mate would overlook it, which he did. Ref has got to be sidelined or properly trained. It's one thing for refs to move up the ranks but if it was me I would require refs to either have played in different clubs or not at all having the temptation to bias in high stakes games like this. This has got to be stamped out. But then again World Rugby is so destroying the game of rugby in an attempt to be more “safe” and “concussion free”. What they are doing is making it more infuriating for the fans and more difficult for the refs to officiate evenly and consistently. It's fast become Australian Rules football. If guys don't want concussions, they should have played chess. Stop complaining you oldies of the game. When they played the game was vastly heavier hitting than it is now but of course they can't see that.
Go to comments