How, in the 90s in Brittany, did you want to become a professional Rugby player?
I had a dad who was passionate about rugby who gave me the bug. He gave me both a passion for the activity and a good foundation, too. Being selected for the French under-19 team also gave me self-confidence. I then wanted to go and discover something else, another country and to test myself a little outside of Brittany.
This selection for the French under-19 team (with whom he was world champion in 1995) opened the doors of Bègles to me.
Was going to Bègles a choice?
In fact, I left both to play there and to study Staps. Previously, I was studying sports in Nantes. There was none in Vannes… And there were always attentive eyes on the students who arrived at the different faculties. This selection for the French under-19 team (with whom he was then world champion in 1995) opened the doors to Bordeaux-Bègles, which recruited me at 18.
And how did it go there?
I arrived in 1993, two years after the title of French champion. I very quickly joined the training of the pros. A large backbone of champion players remained and they shared with me their experience, their state of mind, their personality. Obviously, we learn lots of things from contact with the best. I didn’t play right away but I did everything with them. Which was already a great satisfaction for me, a form of success. At 18, normally, we’re just Crabos… I played a lot of ends of the match. I stayed in the pro group for three years. I had people around me with incredible charisma. I was the understudy of the international Guy Accoceberry, in particular. I learned a lot playing alongside him and I had a lot of fun during my great rugby years. I accumulated images and situations that I was able to reuse back at RC Vannes.
I played a lot of ends of the match, the end of the match. I stayed in the pro group for three years. I had people around me with incredible charisma. I was the understudy of the international Guy Accoceberry in particular. I learned a lot…
There was this leg injury which ended your playing career…
I don’t want to dwell on that. I want to keep the positive from this experience. In rugby, we take shocks and suffer injuries. This one was more annoying than others. That’s how it is.
Before returning to the group in Morbihan, were there any steps?
Over the course of professional changes linked to my Capes, I left for Stade Bordelais and the Racing Club de France and I was able to return to Brittany at a fairly young age. At 26, I coached RC Vannes in Fédérale 2 (2001-2002). At the beginning, Jean-Noël (Spitzer) was still a player. Then, we did the year of the rise to Federal 1 together (2005-2006).
Today, I am a contact performance coach. I manage the analysis of all attitudes in contact with players, which are very varied. I am also responsible for activities near the lines.
Why did you never leave your job as a sports teacher in Arradon?
I have always kept my position at the college. First of all, because I love my job. Then, professional rugby in Vannes is quite new and I didn’t want to do anything. I have already progressed on my part-time basis. I’m going there in stages. I’m careful…
Today, what functions do you have at RC Vannes?
In the 8 years that I have been with the pros, my mission has evolved. Initially, I was a skills coach and responsible for recruitment. Today, I am a contact performance coach. I manage the analysis of all attitudes in contact with players, which are very varied. I am also responsible for activities near the lines. However, in Vannes, we are lucky not to be locked into a single role. We share a lot of ideas about the game and not just our initial register. I try to observe a lot of teams and suggest areas of work and improvement in certain sectors of the game, particularly in relation to the constant evolution of the rules of the game.
Do you have the impression of having been at the start of something for Breton or Vannes rugby?
You can never say that. I have too much respect for all the generations of coaches and players who came before me, who allowed the club to climb the ladder little by little. I have the feeling of having made my contribution, of having tried to trigger a form of ambition, of not just aiming to maintain, of trying to compete with the best, of seeking out the forms of play that the best did. That doesn’t mean that we succeeded all the time, but at least having this ambition to get closer.
Did you imagine then that one day the RCV would be able to climb into the Top 14?
No, it’s not something we could have imagined. It would have been completely crazy, when arriving in Federal 2, to say to ourselves: “We will be in Top 14”. When I came back 22 years ago, the goal was already to try to have good seasons, to make the game evolve to the level of the best in each category.
Goulven Le Garrec “brought freshness and structure to the game” of RC Vannes, notably…
“When Goulven left (for Bordeaux-Bègles), he was by far the best of his generation in Brittany. There was him and the others, remembers Jean-Noël Spitzer, the manager of RC Vannes with whom Goulven Le Garrec still collaborates. But the players were not attracted to play higher up because the environment was not professional. Rugby was just a small part of your life. The impact came when Goulven returned as a PE teacher, with his high-level experience, particularly on details and strategy. It was he who brought that to RC Vannes. Then, it spread to Brittany because he also managed Breton youth selections. He brought this touch linked to strategy, to the anticipation that you can have in advance about the progress of a match and the requirement of individual technique. Adrien Le Roy (former coach of Plouzané), who saw Goulven Le Garrec start as coach in 2001-2002 and whom he asked to return to Morbihan during his second stint at the head of RCV (2004-2007) , confirms: “He had a lot of skills and a real aura. It was the beginning of the structuring of the RCV game, with a little more ambition, scheduled games. We felt that he mastered and had a strong understanding of the game. He brought a little freshness, in the sense that rugby was then connoted very warlike, very combative, and Goulven brought a much more tactical and strategic with much more precise placement and movement of players on the field.”
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