Saint-Andre to coach France

http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,16024_7124373,00.html

The FFR have confirmed that Philippe Saint-Andre would take over from Marc Lievremont as coach of the national team after the World Cup.

Reports of Saint-Andre's appointment have been across the French media since the start of the week but the FFR announcement made it official.

"The steering committee, which met today (Thursday) at the headquarters of the FFR in Marcoussis, has approved the appointment of Philippe Saint-Andre as the next coach of the XV of France," said the federation in a statement.

The 44-year-old takes over from Lievremont who has been in position since replacing Bernard Laporte after the 2007 World Cup. He will begin his new role on December 1 with his first match against Italy in the Six Nations on February 4.

Lievremont announced in May 2010 that he would step down after taking the team to New Zealand.

Nicknamed "Le Goret" - or "The Pig" - Saint-Andre played the bulk of his club rugby for Clermont before moving to Gloucester in 1996. He won 69 caps for France between 1990 and 1997, captaining them 34 times.

His first coaching job came at Gloucester before he moved to Bourgoin and then Sale Sharks with whom he won the English championship in 2006.

He returned to France in 2009 with Toulon, reaching the semi-finals of the French championship in 2010.

According to Midi-Olympique, the newspaper which broke the news of his appointment on Monday, Saint-Andre will be joined by Toulouse forwards coach Yannick Bru and Biarritz coach Patrice Lagisquet - the "Bayonne Express" - who will look after the backs.

Toulouse head coach Guy Noves was the number one choice of the FFR but turned down the role to stay with the French champions.

Saint-Andre will appear at a press conference to be held in Toulon next Tuesday.

2010 Slam, 2011 lose to Italy. Will France even turn up to RWC?

will Guy Noves ever leave Toulouse?

i will miss Lievremont, yes his decision were wierd and wonderful but sometimes they sparked amazing french play and likewise disastorous events- something that makes france so exciting to watch, and even during those mental times managed somehow to beat NZ!

Could be a great appointment and I wish him well. It's a big ask but he couldn't do a worse job than Lievremont could he? It's time someone took charge of a French team of some of the most talented players in the world and helped them achieve their true potential.

Superb appointment.

A great coach, but France will always be hit or miss until they get a deal with the clubs to see their players for longer than 5 minutes every month. How can you coach a cohesive game plan without time with the players?

Should be interesting to see how he does.

Can any one shed any light on his teams style of play? Are they conservative or more attacking or what?

Smart decision by Guy Novés to stay with Stade Toulousain. I think Saint Andre is a good choice by FFR.

Great appointment - finally France have a coach with proven abilities. France will dominate NH international rugby in the coming years in my view, they've always had the talent but under Lievremont it's been horribly mismanaged.

Saint-Andre will make France extremely hard to beat, and is a man who fully understands how to build and shape a side.

As for his teams style of play, pretty attacking minded but he knows and appreciates the importance of a strong defence. I think he's ideally suited to international coaching with his track record, he's had to build sides at Sale and Toulon in the past and he's done it pretty well, and he has an eye for finding combinations that work.

Addressing the flyhalf situation is a must. Trinh Duc is amazing but is just one bloke. Top French flyhalves are tough to find. Trinh-Duc and Michalak are the only ones in recent years.

Agreed - I think Trinh Duc is going to be first choice for a while but I don't see Skrela as an international stand-off anymore, and at 32 next March he's not much more than a steady option to have in the background.

I've always rated Beauxis as a 10 with enormous potential, although I appreciate he's been pretty inconsistent. He's a decent runner though with an enormous boot on him. I reckon Saint Andre will take a good look at that option, and the move to Toulouse will I think do Beauxis a lot of good.

What did he win at Sale? And didn't Toulon fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup this year despite buying all those expensive test stars? I'm not being smart or anything, I'm just wondering why some are hailing him as such a great appointment.

I reckon after Noves fabian galthie was the obvious choice. At least Saint Andre will bring some sanity back to the role.

My god. A sane french coach?
Are they mad?

He should certainly bring a bit of sense back into the French selections!

Feckless Rogue- He won the premiership with Sale in 2007 I think it was?

Feckless Rogue wrote:What did he win at Sale? And didn't Toulon fail to qualify for the Heineken Cup this year despite buying all those expensive test stars? I'm not being smart or anything, I'm just wondering why some are hailing him as such a great appointment.

Did he not win the Challenge Cup and the Guiness Premiership (winning both the league and the playoffs), as well as coach of the year whilst at Sale? The Toulon project is in its infancy. You can't sign that many players and expect instant success. I suspect someone else will now come in reap the rewards of the building work. He also started a decent building job at Gloucester as well in his first role in my view.

He's not beyond criticism though. Although he was blighted by injuries at Sale following his triumph, that Sale squad did not stand the test of time, and he should take some flak for that.

To be honest I think if Guy Noves would not fit the job for the international job. He is a top quality coach, and would be a top rate international coach, just not in France, he is too much of a Toulouse man. From what I have seen coaches who tend to be loyal to one sie don't make that good international coaches (for their own nation).

Saint Andre seems like a sensible choice. He has a decent enough record as both player and coach. The only down side is that does mean that Chabal will be the French captain come the 6Ns.

"From what I have seen coaches who tend to be loyal to one sie don't make that good international coaches (for their own nation)."


But what about Martin Johnson?

To be fair part of the reason that Sale team didn't last was that when he left he took about half the first team with him. And Robinson retired.

France with a coach that knows what he's doing?

We're all doomed

Feckless Rogue- He won the premiership with Sale in 2007 I think it was?.

2006. The Wigglesworth/Hodgson half back combination. Though wasn't Jim Mallinder the backs coach at the time? They were playing a very good brand of rugby with a lot of tactical versatility. If he can get the French side playing that kind of intelligent heads up rugby then France could do very well indeed. First things first he does need to find some young French fly half options.

But what about Martin Johnson?

We wish he was more biased! Then maybe we could have nicked the Tigers midfield and had a centre combination that is actually proven to work. Use the English players from the Tigers first team (minus Chuter because he is now 35) and fill in the gaps with Stevens, Thompson, Moody, Ashton and Foden and we'd do fine.

1.
2.
3.Cole
4.Deacon
5.Parling (if he's ever fit again)
6.Croft
7.
8.Crane
9.Youngs
10.Flood
11.Tait
12.Allen
13.Manu
14.
15.

Remember the 2010 Football World Cup? Domenech had announced he was leaving before the tournament and the team barely bothered playing. Could we see something similar with the rugby team?