Clubs lend players, rarely coaches. The arrangement being discussed between Montpellier and the federation says something about the new balance of power between the clubs and the national team.

A shared coach

Joan Caudullo has confirmed it: talks are well advanced for Geoffrey Doumayrou, defence coach at Montpellier Hérault Rugby, to join France during international windows. He would keep his role at the club at the same time.

The 37-year-old former France centre, who played for La Rochelle and Stade Français before returning to Hérault, has held the job since he joined the Montpellier staff.

What the arrangement involves

A player loan follows written rules. A coach loan does not. The arrangement therefore rests entirely on the club’s goodwill, as it agrees to do without one of its three coaches during the November window and the Six Nations, the very weeks when it is already without its internationals.

It follows the same logic as the list of thirty-three protected players unveiled this week: a negotiated arrangement, with no regulatory obligation, in which the federation gets from the clubs what no rule allows it to demand.

The rest of the staff in limbo

The news comes a day after Joan Caudullo’s contract extension until 2029 was made official. The former club hooker, who took charge in June 2024, led Montpellier to last season’s Top 14 final.

The situation of his assistants, however, is still unclear. According to L’Équipe, most of them should be kept on, but Bès and Valls will not be. The Montpellier staff would therefore come out of this off-season heavily reshaped, with a head coach extended for three more seasons, two assistants on their way out and a third working part-time with France.