Lyon statement: Recruitment of New Zealand U20s boss Jono Gibbes

Jono Gibbes, the current New Zealand U20s head coach, is back in the Top 14 18 months after his sacking as boss at Clermont as he has agreed to join Lyon for the upcoming 2024/25 season. It was January 2023 when a Champions Cup hammering at home to Leicester spelled the end for the 47-year-old at a club he agreed to join for the 2021/22 season on a three-year deal from La Rochelle.

After his dismissal, Gibbes hunkered down in his native New Zealand, becoming a resource and development XV coach at the Chiefs, his former franchise as a player. He also agreed to become head coach of the Baby Blacks, who had endured fourth, seventh and seventh-place finishes in the three World Rugby U20 Championship tournaments that had taken place since they last won the trophy in 2017.

Gibbes' appointment has been a success as he has followed up New Zealand's title win at the inaugural age-grade Rugby Championship on the Australian Gold Coast in May with qualification for this Sunday’s World Rugby Championship semi-final against France in Cape Town.

His Baby Blacks topped their pool at the Championship with three victories, including a last-gasp 27-26 win over the French in Stellenbosch courtesy of an 80th-minute penalty kick from Rico Simpson.

“You can see in the emotion of the players that it’s a squad effort,” said Gibbes to RugbyPass in the aftermath of that dramatic July 4 victory. “They are so happy for the investment they have put in and I have to take my hat off to the staff, my coaching group, they have just done an awesome job with these guys.”

Gibbes happily doled out the praise to his fellow Kiwis on the night of that match day two win, but the victory surely boosted his reputation in France and it has now emerged he will head to Europe at the end of the Championship in South Africa to start work at Lyon.

A statement read: “The LOU Rugby staff will be strengthened for next season with the arrival of Jono Gibbes. The current coach of the Baby Blacks will act as a consultant and will join Lyon at the end of the U20 World Cup to participate in summer preparation.”

The eight-cap former All Blacks forward has spent much of his coaching career in France, working at Clermont from 2014 to 2017, La Rochelle from 2018 to 2021 and Clermont from 2021 to January 2023.

He has also had stints in Ireland with Leinster (2008 to 2014) and Ulster (2017/18), and also in New Zealand with Waikato (2018).

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