Forced to withdraw from the presidency of the French Rugby Federation, Bernard Laporte spoke this Sunday with Eurosport. The former coach and minister does not hesitate to address a few tackles, and delivers some keys as to his future.
Two months after being forced to withdraw from the presidency of the French Rugby Federation after being sentenced to two years in prison suspended for passive corruption and influence peddling in particular, Bernard Laporte came out of his silence this Sunday , giving an interview to Eurosport. The former president confides in particular on his new daily life, and admits to delighting in being able to watch the matches of the XV of France on television.
“I resumed my professional activities, such as interventions in seminars. I switched to something else even though I have rugby people on the phone every day. (…) It’s so much better to follow the matches on TV. Against England, I didn’t want it to end. I discovered this happiness of watching matches alone. You can drink your glass in peace and go get another one without having to shake 150 hands on the way, with good people or hypocrites. »
Laporte attacks Grill, Benazzi and Pelous
Bernard Laporte did not choose to be in the language of wood, and evokes in particular his opponents in this interview. The former minister scratches the one who presented himself to him in 2020 for the presidency of the FFR and had collected 48% of the votes, and all his supporters. “Who in this opposition is capable of doing what we did? Florian Grill does not master what the high level is, ”begins Laporte.
Before continuing, bluntly: “When I see those around Grill, they certainly played but… Abdelatif Benazzi has not even spent a year in a staff in Montpellier and he is hated by everyone, Fabien Pelous was fired from Toulouse… I can’t even blame them for how much they make me laugh! If these people were good, they would be in place of Mola, Urios and company. (…) Pelous was a very great player and deserved the selections I gave him, but what did he do afterwards? Ask Ugo Mola how he tried to impeach him! And it exploded in flight not even a year later. So I say to these people, take some clubs, win like I did and then you can talk and I’ll say well done! »
Laporte coach or adviser?
Contacted by the Fijian Federation to be a coach during the World Cup, Bernard Laporte preferred to refuse so as not to compete with the XV of France. But the 58-year-old former scrum-half from Bègles may not always say no to a bench… “Coming back to the field on a daily basis, I don’t want to. In club at least because for a major selection, I would think twice. On the other hand, being an adviser to a president, setting up a project as I was able to do with the France team, that may interest me. I will never turn the page on rugby. “In the meantime, Bernard Laporte has been banned for two years from exercising any function with rugby. But he appealed.
