The Perpignan club formalized this Monday the arrival of Laurent Labit as new coach to replace Franck Azéma, dismissed a week earlier. The former manager of Stade Français will be supported as planned by Nicolas Nadau and the Englishman Joe Worsley, who will be his deputies. President François Rivière hopes that this new organization will allow the Catalans to “redress the situation”.
Labit at the USAP bedside with Joe Worsley and Nicolas Nadau for the shoulder. This Monday, two days after the new defeat of Perpignan, on the Pau field (27-23) during the 9th day of Top 14, the Catalan club formalized the arrival of Laurent Labit (57 years old) and the two assistants on whom the former coach of Stade Français, without a club since last March, will be able to rely on to try to take on this new mission which awaits him at the current red lantern. Since Franck Azéma was dismissed from his position last Monday, Labit, who had lifted the Brennus Shield first with Castres, in 2013, then three years later while officiating on the bench of Racing 92, had immediately been announced as the huge favorite for succession.
The best informed sources, however, believed they knew that it took several days of discussions between the technician and his future employer before the technician who also passed through Montauban as well as the staff of the XV of France – he had won the 2022 6 Nations Tournament with the Blues – gave his agreement. All that remained to be resolved were the final details of this contract, which would last until the end of the 2026-2027 season.
Rivière: “I wanted to give our club all the means and all the strength to redress our situation”
In the same way, there was no doubt that the USAP had set its sights on Nadau, the former coach of Grenoble, and on the Englishman Worsley, a former international third line who had played for UBB, Castres or Brive since the end of his playing career, to respectively take charge of the attack and defense of the team within this new organization desired by François Rivière.
The two men will work in collaboration with Jacques-Louis Potgieter, maintained in his role as kicking coach, in the same way as Nicolas Mas and Mathieu Cidre, also renewed. The message from the Perpignan president is very clear. “I wanted to give our club all the means and all the strength available to remedy our situation together. »
In this sense, one or two recruits could settle down at USAP this week. “This reinforcement of the staff will be completed in the coming days by the arrival of one or two additional players to compensate for current injuries. » Labit should show off his new colors against Montpellier on November 22. But not at Aimé-Giral, since the USAP den will be suspended for this match.
