Tokyo (AFP)
He even speaks with a southern accent! Mario Ledesma, the coach of Argentina, maintains a special bond with France, where he was player and coach. Before a sudden break with Montpellier and Fabien Galthié in 2014.
Between his arrival in Narbonne in 2001, and the end of the adventure in Montpellier in 2014, Mario Ledesma, now 46, spent 13 years in France. At a time when Argentine rugby was still very amateur, he was one of the many Pumas playing in a French club.
"If we are at this level, it is thanks to France, we could not have trained in Argentina as we did in France, we would not have reached this physical and technical level. the reception of the French, we have become a better team, "he said on RMC in 2012.
"Ledesma is someone who knows very well the French rugby," said AFP the opening half of the Pumas, Nicolas Sanchez. "He played a lot of games against them and he knows how they get ready, what they have in mind before that kind of matches, he has worked with Galthie, all these things matter, especially to know them and know about what to insist, "adds N.10, himself an expert on the Top 14 (Bordeaux-Bègles, Toulon and today Stade Français).
- Dispute on management -
Stroll through France ... Started in Narbonne, the Ledesma progression, player version, continued in Castres (2003-2005), before ending in Clermont between 2005 and 2011, with the first Shield passing Brennus in the history of ASM in 2010.
The hooker then embarks on a coaching career. First a season at the Stade Français, then Montpellier where he arrives in the summer of 2012, as assistant to a certain Fabien Galthié.
But the collaboration went wrong between the two men. Tensions have arisen due to a different management style and especially their hierarchical relationship, according to the former second international line Thibault Privat.
"The management of Fabien does not correspond to the philosophy of Mario.When we were hard in the fall of 2014, there were some hiccups.That is when the disagreement was expressed more strongly to each other ", explains to AFP Privat, Ledesma's friend.
- Ledesma, deputy landed -
In fact, everything broke on November 7, 2014, the evening of a rout at home Brive (25-10). Everything is played in a long secret session in the locker room. The truths burst between the players and their supervision, against a backdrop of tensions between the two coaches. The reciprocal reproaches lead to a clash between hooker Charles Géli and Ledesma.
The Argentine coach is dismissed by the president and owner of the club Mohed Altrad, eager to break the abscess and clean the cloakroom.
Fabien Galthié preserves his functions and moves away from Ledesma. "I understand that Mario has had a bad experience of Fabien's non-solidarity," says Privat, who was playing at the time at the MHR, after spending several seasons in Clermont alongside Ledesma.
"It's surprising to see the deputy landed instead of the head coach, and often it's up to the head coach, anyway, three months later (note: in fact, end of December 2014), Fabien (Galthié) will be dismissed from his duties ", still traces Privat.
Fired from Montpellier, Mario Ledesma had resumed his backpack to land at the other end of the world in Australia. Before returning home in 2018 to take care of the province of Jaguares and Pumas.
The presence of Fabien Galthié Saturday in the French coaching will contribute to spice up a little more the shock France-Argentina.
"I do not know if we will cross or not," Ledesma said at the pre-match press conference in Tokyo on Thursday, "I think we'll both be in the rostrum." But I do not know if will meet before or after the match. " At the corner of a corridor, the handshake may be a little cool ...
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