Vincent Koch opens up on Wasps redundancy and his switch to France
After the financial meltdown of Wasps, most of the players at the club have managed to rebound and find new homes, some even shining in the Top 14 a few days later. Life might be different than in Coventry as they settle into their new surroundings, but players like Springboks tighthead Vincent Koch and Burger Odendaal, his fellow South African, are finding their feet again after a difficult time.
Koch ran out for South Africa against Italy in Genoa on November 19. The next day he was on a plane back to his homeland to finalise his visa for France having bagged a contract with Stade Francais. No time was lost as the prop touched down in Paris to make his Top 14 debut three days later in a narrow defeat by Toulon.
It was a true baptism of fire for the South African after just a handful of training sessions and being unable to converse in the language of Moliere. “I could just say ‘hello’ pretty much,” Koch admitted to AFP.
“Everything came so quick,” he added about the way Wasps were put into administration in mid-October. “When you start playing professional rugby, you never think that is something that could ever happen to you.”
After six seasons at Saracens, the 32-year-old front-row was laid off by Wasps without having even played a single game in the colours of his new club. “It put a lot of pressure on myself, on my family,” continued Koch. “I had two weeks to try to sort things out before I joined up with the Springboks.
“In that two weeks, I had to look for a new contract, try to figure out what the future held for me and then as well move everything from my house because I couldn’t stay there. I had to get someone to move my house, stop all my debit orders, TV, the wifi. Trying to get out of my housing lease as well.”
Jack Willis had spent his entire professional career at Wasps until the call came on October 17 for a meeting at the training ground. “We were just expecting to be told that we were going into administration,” said Willis. “We weren’t expecting to be told that we were all losing our jobs.
“When we were told we were made redundant, the room just went into complete silence and everyone was shocked. There were quite a few tears from everyone afterwards, it was a very emotional day.”
The England flanker has also landed in the French elite, at Toulouse, not so far from his younger brother Tom, who is turning out in the back row for Top 14 rivals Bordeaux until the end of the season when he heads home to Saracens in a bid to play for England.
Among ten Wasps players to have crossed the Channel, with others having joined Super Rugby and United Rugby Championship clubs, are scrum-half Dan Robson (Pau), prop Biyi Alo (Racing 92) and flanker Brad Shields (Perpignan).
“There are a lot of us who have found stuff now, which is brilliant, but there are also a lot of guys who haven’t found jobs,” Willis continued. “It’s been a bit of a roller-coaster couple of months.” Turning to Toulouse, he added: “It does feel a bit crazy, but it is also really exciting.
“If I had stayed locally to another (English) team that was close it would have felt really weird day to day. Whereas this is such a big change that it just feels like an exciting adventure.”
Springboks prop Koch also opted to highlight the positive over the negative from a situation out of the players’ control, calling it an “unbelievable journey” for him, his partner and their young child. “It’s definitely better than Coventry so we will definitely make good memories here,” Koch said of his new life in the French capital.
“Some day in life, you get to sit down and reflect on what happened. We can actually tick a box and say, listen, we had an unbelievable time in Paris, in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I always make a joke saying there is worst places to be in the world than Paris.”
Koch, who was part of the Springboks squad that won the 2019 Rugby World Cup, touched down in the French capital with a former Wasps teammate in Paolo Odogwu. “We knew they were coming out of a tricky period, but they were happy to bounce back with us. They have really integrated very well,” said Stade coach Gonzalo Quesada.
Odogwu also has an English compatriot in the Stade squad in the shape of the outside back, Harry Glover. “They are both single and living in a flat in (the chic central Parisian area of) Saint-Germain. So we will be keeping an eye on them!”
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John, McKenzie was 10 years ago and he only lasted 15 months until the disgustingly unfair affair that brought him down. I thought that if he didn't get another gig over Eddie V2 then he was done. I read that he had been approached but declined to put his name in the ring.
There are no potential Wallaby coaches outside of McKellar unless you have some inside info?
Go to commentsThe way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.
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