he deciphers the renewal of Montpellier

After a catastrophic Top 14 2023-2024, the MHR is finding color this season as the current series seems to attest. seven consecutive victoriesall competitions combined. Recruits who live up to expectations, a new local staff and a club which can finally allow itself to look upwards, the attack coach Benoit Paillaugue talks about the rebirth of Montpellier.

Montpellier: the recipe for renewal

“We no longer talk about last year. It's you (the media, editor's note) who are talking about it. But we, in the staff and in the team, we no longer talk about it.” Things are clear, Benoit Paillaugue, and more generally the Montpellier group, do not want to rehash ad vitam the setbacks of a last season which almost ended with relegation to Pro D2.

However, the first step towards resolving a problem is often admitting that the problem exists. And on this point, the former number 9 does not kick in.

“You go in two years from playing a title to playing a match so as not to go down. With a squad which, for the most part, had been champions. Of course there was trauma,” he admits.

After fifteen seasons with the Cistes, the misfortunes of the MHR obviously could not leave him indifferent: “Like any lover of the club, of course it touched me. When you see your club in difficulty, players with whom you played, with whom you shared very good moments and complicated moments, it obviously affects you. »

“I was outside. It was no longer our story, it was theirs. Apart from supporting them, there wasn't much we could do unfortunately. So yes, a lot of frustration, but above all touched by the club and the men I knew and worked with,” he breathes.

More from Montpellier to Montpellier

It was June 24, 2022, not that long ago after all. But probably an eternity in the eyes of Montpellier residents, simple supporters or members of the club. That evening, the Héraultais raised the shield of Brennus after having triumphed over Castres and installed the club in the big leagues.

From ? Two exercises that the most magnanimous will succinctly describe as bad, coaches/managers who arrived and then left without having time to unpack their bags. And perhaps that was also part of the problem.

“Was it necessary to bring more from Montpellier to Montpellier? That, I don't know. What we need to provide is a little more stability. We've been here six months. I can't know if we'll be here for very long. What I could answer is that we were renewed for two seasons. I think the club and the management want there to be more stability. For the moment, things are going rather well, but we have to stay within the measure and be careful about it,” says Benoit Paillaugue.

In any case, in rebuilding their staff for this season and obviously for the following ones, Mohed Altrad and Bernard Laporte called on the veterans of the house who are Joan Caudullo, Geoffrey Doumayrou and therefore Benoit Paillaugue. A choice which is not only not trivial, but which only represents the tip of the iceberg.

A long-term vision, finally

The flag team is one thing. But this only represents the last floor of a construction started several levels lower. And here again, the desire was to put the identity of the club at the center of the question by soliciting former players.

This is not only a work of the Pros but also of the rugby school, of the Cadets. Louis Picamoles returned to work with young people, the identity of the club starts from there. Anthony Floch is with the Crabos, Alex Tulou is now with the Féminines, Vincent Martin has returned to the Espoirs… We don't say that you have to have worn the Montpellier jersey to be a good coach, that's not at all that, but there you go, we want the young people who come, who arrive at the Pros, to sweat blue and white.

“We don’t do this work for us, we do it for the club. The important thing is that the club is running and that if, one day, we are no longer there, it will be the same thing, that is to say that the project continues, that the training center remains in place. center of the club's project, that young players from the training center or the surrounding area can one day play for more than 10-15 years here, as we were able to do. That’s really what we want, to find a Montpellier identity, with local players,” explains the native of La Rochelle.

Accustomed to yo-yoing, a trend that it has recently taken to the extreme, the MHR has therefore begun work to consolidate its base.

Ultimately well-targeted recruitment

While waiting for this fundamental work to pay off for the entire club, the professional team must nevertheless continue to exist and perform well in order to create a virtuous circle. For this, it was necessary to call on external human resources.

And we have to admit that part of the Montpellier recruitment, players close to the twilight of their careers, had triggered a wave of skepticism. However, the performances of Billy Vunipola and Stuart Hogg have since done more than reassure.

“The first mission of recruitment was to have leaders. We lost a lot of them after the title, they had difficulty being replaced and that was a lack. The arrival of Billy Vunipola, Stuart Hogg, a Yacouba Camara who returns to the forefront, Lenni Nouchi who will certainly be the future captain of the club… We need players with character, who have experience, leaders of changing room. I think the group needed that, certain benchmarks, voices that carry and are listened to,” believes Benoit Paillaugue.

A recruitment over which he and his colleagues on the staff did not have any control, since they took control of the group during the summer of 2024. Their influence in this area will of course be put later .

“Little by little, we will put our game in place and the players will be targeted in relation to this project. One thing that won’t change is that we want “dogs”. We want guys who are resilient, you can lose a match but on the other hand, you lose with character,” proclaims the man who has never lacked it on the pitch.

Here are the ingredients of the recipe which allows the MHR to reach the 7th^e place in the Top 14. Before, perhaps, projecting themselves even higher by taking a hit on the pitch of a diminished Stade Toulousain (Saturday January 25 at 2 p.m.)…

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