By agreeing to join next summer Bordeaux-Bègles for four years, the manager of Castres Christophe Urios closed on Monday the doors of the XV of France, even if his name returned with insistence for the post-Jacques Brunel in 2020. Having announced his CO at the beginning of the season, he was one of the favorites to take over the Gersois.
Free at the end of the season, a few months before the World Cup in Japan, the road was all drawn, even royal, so that the former hooker, champion of France last June with the CO, endorses the coaching suit of the Blues . At least, it was believed. But to everyone's surprise, Urios said yes to UBB, which has been running for years after a first qualification for the finals.
"Even if Macron ..."
"Christophe Urios will be at UBB for the next four seasons and will not be released under any conditions for the French team, even if President Macron asks me , " said Laurent Marti, the club's president.
"I told Christophe that it would be no, and a big no," insisted the leader, who has already experienced this situation less than a year ago, leaving Brunel at the disposal of the Federation to replace Guy Noves, dismissed.
The club Girondin was for a week in search of a manager after his separation with his English manager Rory Teague, caused by "disagreements that have amplified in our mode of operation," justified Marti. Until June, the interim of the team was entrusted to the English Joe Worsley, the most senior technician and the most experienced of his staff.
The choice of Urios was obvious for Marti, to whom some media have made contact with Xavier Garbajosa (the current coach of three quarters of La Rochelle), Fabien Galthié (the former manager of Toulon) or even Novès, still in dispute with the FFR. "Nonsense, even misinformation , " he annoyed.
Downstream of Lamerat
"As soon as we were put in contact and I understood that there was an interest, it immediately became my priority," said Marti who met twice with Urios. Last Wednesday in Toulouse where the boss of Toptex was for his work, then this Sunday by visiting a Urios under the charm of the facilities of the new training center Bègles. "We agreed immediately" .
Marti also took information from the international center of Clermont Rémi Lamerat - he knew Urios Castres and will find it next year in Gironde - who told him that good. "Christophe, it's the guy we missed to go up a step. I think he is the best French manager today, " summed up Marti.
The results of the OC technician "speak for him" : the rise in Top 14 and a qualification for the Oyonnax dams in 2015, not to mention the latest title won with Castres nose and beard of more financially powerful clubs (Toulouse, France). Racing 92, Montpellier), overwhelmed in the final phase by the collective strength of the Tarn.
Urios knows how to make the best out of his group thanks to "his passion, his rigor, his human values, his rugby skills and his knowledge of the Top 14," the leader said in a semi-mea culpa. "Apart from Jacques Brunel, I realized that I had never named a manager or a coach who proved so successful in the Top 14. Maybe that's the mistake I made. "
By committing Urios to length, the UBB, born in 2006 from the merger of Stade Bordelais and CA Bègles, intends to put an end to instability that has become chronic in its frames: Raphaël Ibanez was pushed to the exit (March 2017) for bad results, Brunel left after half a season to take the lead of the XV of France, and Teague held less than a year.