INTERVIEW. “This transition between player and coach happened naturally,” confides Walter Desmaison (ex SUA), coach of Fleurance

Undermined by injuries, Walter Desmaison, 32, ended his long playing career at the start of 2024. Having played for UBB, Bayonne, Racing 92, Grenoble and Mont-de-Marsan, he joined Agen in 2019. Under contract until 2025, he terminated his lease with Sporting to begin a coaching career. Since the start of the season, he has been the coach of AS Fleurance Rugby, which plays in Nationale 2. The former front row looks back on his beginnings “on the other side”.

How are your beginnings as a coach going at Fleurance, in Nationale 2?

It’s going pretty well. I am happy with my start to my experience in Fleurance. We had a fairly difficult first block because we played at home what are surely the two biggest teams in the group, which is very tough. And very homogeneous. There will be Niort which will be far above, in my opinion. And afterward, there are no small teams. The Nationale 2 is quite a level. It plays well, it hits hard. It was not a division that I knew before but I am very surprised by the high level and the intensity that there is every weekend.

How is your workforce? How do you want your team to play?

I’m not alone on board. And with Philippe Maymat, there is a great atmosphere between us and I learn every day from him because he has much more experience than me. He is very educational in my vision as a coach too. We divide the tasks: I am more focused on conquest and defense, he takes care of the attack. He also lets me give my opinion on the entire offensive part. What we wanted were real rugby players. We didn’t want over-strong guys and create a demolition company. I have always liked attacking play, so we took rugby players with these profiles. The idea is to play as much ball as possible, without doing “hurray rugby”. We leave a lot of creativity to the players. We give them a few balls, but they are the ones who do the work on the pitch on the weekend. We identified small problems on the conquest, so we reinforced ourselves on number 5 positions (second row) and right pillars. We have normally finalized the arrival of a player at the right-handed position. In our desire to launch the game, to create something, we must have these balls to conquer, otherwise it will be complicated. We have a rather young squad, with players who have gone below the radar of professional clubs but who surely have the level. We’re trying to revive these guys so that they can go higher in a few years.

“Certain things displeased me at the SUA, but I don’t want to dwell on them”

At the start of 2024, you terminate your contract with SU Agen. How did your arrival in Fleurance go?

I terminated my contract with SU Agen on February 15, 2024. I had two years left with the SUA. In September 2023, I registered for training to become a coach. I started coaching juniors at Bon-Encontre, as part of this training. When I left the SUA, I aspired to new things. And when the opportunity at Fleurance presented itself, I didn’t hesitate too much. I knew Nicolas Dupouy, the outgoing manager of Fleurance. When he announced he was leaving, he said he would help the club put together its new staff. He contacted me, we met and it worked straight away. I gave my agreement last April.

From a personal point of view, you had a complicated last season with the SUA. Do you regret that the end of your career turned out this way?

During my last months at the SUA, I no longer played much because I was often injured. This is also why I canceled with Agen. And since I was training to be a coach and I was already coaching, I was already more oriented towards coaching. I have regrets especially about the way it went. But in itself, my head was already focused on training. So I have no regrets about ending it this way. These are just some things that I didn’t like, but I don’t want to dwell on them. Today, I am very happy, I am more fulfilled in my body. I’m rediscovering things that I no longer used to do. I’ve had the playing career I’ve had and I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved. Now I’m heading towards my new career and I hope to succeed in it as I did as a player.

“I stopped my playing career a year early because coaching was really in my plans”

You played professionally for almost 13 years, in Top 14 and Pro D2. How do you look back on your playing career?

I had the chance to start very early in Pro D2, at 18, with Union Bordeaux-Bègles. When you imagine the Pro D2 with the UBB, it still goes up a bit. At 19, I was already playing in the Top 14 with Bayonne. So I did the career I was supposed to do. When I look back on this one, I have no regrets. I also don’t regret ending this way with the SUA because my body was telling me “stop”. My head was also starting to tell me “stop” too. I am very happy with my choice.

Did you always have this goal of coaching after your playing career?

This transition from player to coach happened naturally because I was ready to move to that side. It was easier than I imagined. We realize that being a coach is completely different. We experience other emotions, we have nervous fatigue. When you’re a player, you don’t realize the work that coaches do off the field. My wife tells me that I work even more than when I was a player (laughs). It’s true because we don’t cut much. We’re constantly thinking at home, trying to dissect the opponent and trying to think about what went wrong last weekend. It’s a totally different approach that I’ve gotten used to quite well. Because it’s something I wanted to do, I didn’t become a coach by default. That’s why I stopped my playing career a year early because it was really in my plans. And I’m very happy about it.