Stade Francais statement: The promotion of assistant Paul Gustard

Former Harlequins boss Paul Gustard has been promoted to the head coach role at Stade Francais, the Top 14 strugglers who split with Karim Ghezal at the end of last month following a poor start to the new season.

The 48-year-old Gustard, who exited Quins in early 2021, got back on track as an assistant at Benetton for their 2021/22 season and he has continued coaching defence since his switch to Paris from Treviso after just a single URC campaign.

Having finished last term as French semi-finalists following a second-place regular season finish, Stade lost three of their four September matches before letting Ghezal go.

They beat Montpellier in their first match since that upheaval but were hammered 3-35 at Lyon last Sunday, leaving them 13th on the table heading into next weekend’s trip to Castres.

A club statement read: “Following a decision by the sports management, it was decided to reorganise the sports staff and Paul Gustard is promoted to head coach of Stade Francais Paris.

“Reporting to the director of rugby, his responsibilities will include setting up rugby and strategy. He will determine the method, the organisation and lead the sessions with the coaches and the performance director.

“He will also be in charge of monitoring and developing professional players. The attack training will be, as it has been since the start of the season, provided by the director of rugby, Laurent Labit. The rest of the sports organisation chart remains unchanged.”