Having joined Rouen in early 2025 as a defence consultant, Yannick Nyanga now coaches the Normandy club in Nationale. The former France back-row forward has lost none of his enthusiasm.

Launched into the professional game at Béziers, Yannick Nyanga spent ten seasons at Stade Toulousain and retired in 2018 with Racing 92, two weeks after losing a Champions Cup final to Leinster. Eight years later, he experiences the game from the bench at Rouen, with two wins from four rounds of Nationale.

“Still chasing my dreams”

How is Yannick “Lionheart” Nyanga doing?

I’m good, still chasing my dreams!

What year did you arrive at RNR?

I came in at the start of 2025, as a consultant. They were looking for a defence coach. At first, I came once a week.

Six months around the world

I was just back from six months travelling “around the globe”: England, New Zealand, South Africa, to look at “best practices”. The months in New Zealand and South Africa were an eye-opener. I wanted to find out whether coaching was really the job I wanted to do or not.

I had plenty of French inspirations, but I kept wondering how a country as small as New Zealand (5-6 million people, 100,000 registered players) could be world champions three times. That question always fascinated me, so I went to see. I visited the different institutions, met different people, to understand their ecosystem.

Then I did the same thing in South Africa. I spent a week embedded with the Springboks in November 2024. I was lucky enough to get to know Rassie Erasmus and see how he works, it was extraordinary. The Sharks and the Stormers opened their doors to me straight afterwards too.

Monaco, a country that is a club

You then had a spell with Monaco Rugby…

I had the chance to come back into rugby to prepare for the Supersevens, from December 2024 to February 2025. It got me back on the pitch, and more than that. Sevens and Monaco come with different challenges. Monaco is a country that is also a club: how do you build a team when you’re Monaco Rugby, to play in the Supersevens? It was really rewarding. I’m grateful to Manu Falco and Fred Michalak for the opportunity.

“That game came too early”

And so, since March 2025, Rouen. Pre-season went well, and the start of the season isn’t bad?

Yes, pre-season went well. We opened the championship with a fairly special game for us, at Suresnes. There were a lot of former Rouen players there, and the coach Romain Sola, who shared the job with us here last season. I think that game came too early in the season. Emotionally, we weren’t ready yet.

After that we had a good game against Orléans, then a trip to Carcassonne where, in my view, the score didn’t reflect how the game went. We managed to play some rugby and hold our own, and at the end it’s 28-5. That’s how it goes. We learn…

What are RNR’s goals?

The goal is to make the team better. To do that, we’ve built a solid, experienced staff to develop the players.

Young players born between 2002 and 2007

Do you have a view of the academy and the rugby schools? Do you work with partner clubs? Is there a real rugby catchment area in Rouen?

Yes, absolutely. I have to give credit to Richard Hill, who had already done good work on that front. It was then carried on by the coaches who followed, right up to now, and it’s my job to pick up the torch. I have some very good young players coming through from the academy to support our more experienced players, lads born between 2002 and 2007. All of that has to push us to work hard, because they have a lot of energy and need to gain experience quickly.

This is exactly what I wanted when I came here. The team is growing, and that’s a good feeling.