Ouchene (Massy): “Essonne is great”

Seven games, seven wins: Massy top the Nationale after winning 20-14 at Vienne on Saturday 10 October, and host Albi on Saturday 17 October. One of their two coaches, Djamel Ouchene, looks back on his path. Interview.

Massy’s record reads seven wins, four of them away (Périgueux, Suresnes, Carcassonne, Vienne). The tightest came on 12 September, 31-29 against Orléans; the widest was 42-19 at Suresnes, with the try bonus point. In all, 194 points scored and 129 conceded. On the bench, Djamel Ouchene, 38, a former Montauban, Libourne, Bergerac and Périgueux player capped twice by Algeria, has been coaching for barely more than two seasons.

“I wasn’t even 20 and I was already coaching”

Going from player to coach must have been quite a jolt, even if it didn’t come out of nowhere?

I’ve always loved it: passing things on, exchanging ideas, sometimes debating, but above all competing. What really interests me is competition and performance, and I lived that for several years as a player. Very young, before I was 20, I was already coaching the youth age groups I was coming through. Then it built up over the years, not because I needed to plan for life after rugby, but out of passion and desire.

It really sped up when I started taking my coaching qualifications, and with the responsibilities that taught me rigour during my last four years as a player. I was sporting manager of the amateur club, director of the academy, and I worked with the youth teams right up to the Espoirs. I wanted to complete my qualifications alongside my playing days, so that I would be ready and available to coach as soon as I stopped.

Were you the kind of player who asked his coach how or why?

As a player I was pretty easy to please. I loved being on the pitch so much. We were a group of mates at Périgueux, we’d get to training very early and stay in the changing room for ages talking. Those are real moments of life. I liked talking with the coaches, about strategy, about how to train and how to play, but I always knew my place, because I believe the player should play and the coach should coach. Those moments with my mates were so precious that I just went along with what was put in front of us. All I thought about was enjoying training.

Free rein over the attack

Massy have a solid and well-earned reputation as a great development club: Millo-Chluski, Lamboley, Bastareaud, Cancoriet, Camara, Macalou… Does that weigh on your shoulders as a coach?

No, it happened very naturally. When I took my DES (France’s top coaching diploma, ed.) in 2024, I was in the same intake as Benoît Denoyelle, with whom I share the rugby side of our staff at Massy. In December 2023 he called me and said things were going to change at Massy: the club was looking for an attack coach, a backs coach. Would I be interested? Several things appealed to me.

First, it’s a club built on player development. Having come through an academy myself, that really spoke to me. Second, the club has always been a side that likes to play and attack. I arrived at a club whose culture was simple, disciplined rugby. Third, on the attack, on the attacking and sporting project, I was given free rein. With Benoît, we really are the bosses of the rugby side.

I had only just stopped playing. A first-team project, in the Nationale, at a development club, focused on playing, with free rein over the game: I had no reason not to commit to it quickly. And I’m very happy with it.

“Everyone heads south, and you came back up”

And how is life in the Paris region?

It’s been a big discovery, and a huge surprise. People would say: “What are you going to do in Île-de-France?” There are the tower blocks, the estates… Even when I walk into a shop or the bakery, people say: “You’re not from round here, you’ve got an accent, you’re from the south, what are you doing here? Everyone makes the opposite trip, everyone heads south, and you came back up.” I tell them I have a job I’m passionate about and I’m loving it here.

What’s great is that where I live, I’m ten minutes from the ground. At 5pm you can hear the birds in my garden. I’m twenty minutes from the Eiffel Tower, I can go for a walk with my son on a Wednesday afternoon. Five minutes on the bike and I’m in the woods. Essonne isn’t bad at all. It’s great.