The former coach of the French men's Rugby sevens team, Jérôme Daret, was named best coach of the year at the World Rugby Awards, this Sunday, November 24, in Monaco.
Architect of the Blues' Olympic gold medal in Paris, he was coach of the 2017 VII at the Paris Games. After failing to qualify his team for the Tokyo Olympics, he succeeded in his bet by bringing French rugby the first coronation in its history at the Olympics, in Paris.
Former player and coach of US Dax, the 49-year-old technician has since taken a step back. He is now general manager of the French Sevens teams while Benoit Baby has become the coach of the Blues.
In addition to the Olympic title, the French men's team also won the world circuit by winning the Madrid tournament and before that won the Los Angeles tournament, a first victory in almost 20 years.
Jerome Daret is not the only Frenchman to have been rewarded since the start of the evening. Marine Ménager won the prize for best rugby union try of the year for women for an achievement scored against Canada.
The co-captain of the Blues took advantage of great work from flyhalf Lina Queyroi, who recovered a long ball, made it 50-22 and immediately played the touchline for Marine Ménager, overtaking the entire Canadian defense during the Women XV.
England full-back Ellie Kildunne was crowned best player in XV thanks to her 14 tries in 10 matches, underlining the overwhelming domination of the “Red Roses” in world rugby one year before the World Cup on home soil. She is notably ahead of Frenchwoman Pauline Bourdon-Sansus, one of the rare tricolors to have survived a mixed year.
Bourdon-Sansus is the only Frenchwoman in the typical XV team, which includes six Englishwomen.
Except for the two trials of the year, which were chosen by a public vote, the winners of the different categories were chosen by a panel of between six and eleven people composed of former players, coaches or journalists.
