Laurent Depret
Journaliste rugby, spécialiste du Top 14 et du Pro D2.
Recent activity
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PublishedThe road of one Joël Gâté: a life in the service of the game
Schoolteacher, sailor, rugby man, but above all a kind soul with a passion for fairness. Joël Gâté, a figure of the Ligue des Pays de la Loire, carries on his life as an enthusiast with one simple mission: keeping the ball alive. Settled in Les Sables-d'Olonne, this Paris-region man who came back to his native Vendée is a living, active memory. Meeting a man with a rich career, honoured many times over (Bronze, Silver, Vermeil and, recently, the FFR's Coq d'Or).
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PublishedRugby player and bartender at Charlie’s in La Baule: Eliott’s New Zealand adventures
We left him as a prop for Rugby Club Baulois and a fixture of Charlie's Corner. Today, Eliott is sending news from 12 hours away. Off to live his "Overseas Experience" in New Zealand, he has swapped the cocktail shaker for the vacuum cleaner and the bay of La Baule for the mountains of Wanaka. Between life in a van, a job as a housekeeper and an imminent return to the pitch, here are the adventures of a bartender and rugby player in the middle of a journey to the land of the Kiwis.
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PublishedTop 14 salaries: the great inflation decoded (2016-2025)
World rugby has been "open" since 1995 (athletics since 1992, football since 1885, tennis in 1973) following the historic declaration by Vernon Pugh, then president of the IRB, the forerunner…
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PublishedRugby: the end of the Pro D2 / Nationale Access Match is confirmed, the reform explained
It is a small revolution in the French rugby lift system. The agreement sealed this week between the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR) and the federation (FFR) confirms the coming disappearance of the Access Match, the sudden-death play-off between the 15th-placed side in Pro D2 and the Nationale finalist.
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PublishedPays de la Loire: Christophe Pommier, the former accountant turned architect of amateur rugby
He swapped balance sheets for team sheets, and the calculator for the training pitch. Christophe Pommier did not fall into the cauldron as a child: he discovered rugby late, at 21, by way of a 4e série club. Now a Club Technical Adviser (CTC) in the Pays de la Loire, this Saumur man with an unusual path criss-crosses the roads of the Maine-et-Loire to give amateur rugby its structure, proving that it is never too late to change career out of sheer passion.
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PublishedChampions Cup (Round 4): Castres pull off the upset of the weekend, La Rochelle out, UBB and Toulouse on top
While the firepower of Toulouse and UBB left its mark and La Rochelle's fall signals the end of an era, the event of the weekend goes well beyond the borders of Top 14. By pulling off the unthinkable in the fortress of Thomond Park, Castres produced a one-off performance that rings like an alarm bell for Irish rugby. Beaten at home, Munster reveal a worrying brittleness in the face of the Tarn side's fury,
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PublishedPORTRAIT – The fight is over for Saba Kartvelishvili (Stade Nantais): when the body sounds the alarm
At 36, the Georgian prop of Stade Nantais, who also played for Lannemezan and Angoulême, is hanging up his boots. A brutal but vital decision, forced on him by a clear-cut medical diagnosis after twenty-five years in the trenches. The story of a forced exit in which reason won out over passion.
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PublishedChampions Cup (Round 3): UBB put on a show, Toulon breathe again, Toulouse and La Rochelle in trouble
A weekend of every contrast for the French clubs in this third round of the Champions Cup. While Union Bordeaux-Bègles splashed their class all over Europe by crushing Northampton, and Toulon earned themselves an unhoped-for reprieve against Munster, the news is grim for the heavyweights. Cruelly beaten in Dublin, La Rochelle now have their backs to the wall, while Stade Toulousain, beaten for a second time by Saracens, have seen top spot in their pool disappear for good.
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PublishedTop 14 (Round 14) – Global warming and try inflation
Who said the cold freezes attacking intent? Certainly not the wings, who had a feast on a weekend that felt like an open day. With basketball scores just about everywhere and defences left in the changing rooms, the championship served up total entertainment. The story of a round that made a liar of the forecast.
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PublishedFrom Châteaubriant to Segré: Mehmet Oskan imposes his Turkish strength
He arrived from Turkey in 1981, aged four, with a family who had come to work at the Châteaubriant foundry. Nothing marked Mehmet Oskan out to take up the oval ball, a sport his father considered "rubbish". Forty years on, the former scrum-half turned coach at Segré still cannot do without the smell of the changing room. Portrait of a man who has passed the bug on to his son, a solid prop at REC.
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Published“I had 3 children: my daughters and rugby”. Meet Paulette, a volunteer at Saint-Hilaire since 1977.
Volunteer, player, administrator and an essential figure in the clubhouse since 1977: Paulette has given her life to rugby at Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez for close to half a century. Exceptional dedication that has just been rewarded with a medal from the Fédération Française de Rugby, presented in Paris. Meet a woman whose passion now has her dreaming of meeting Antoine Dupont.
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PublishedBreton rugby prepares to board
In Saint-Quay-Portrieux, Breton rugby celebrated its centenary with emotion and ambition. A memorable gala evening, held under the patronage of Abdelatif Benazzi, which brought together legends, volunteers and officials to underline the strength and the future of rugby in Brittany.
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PublishedFrom the pitch to the touchline: how does Camille Caillol (Vannes) turn hardship into handing it on?
This is the story of a woman from Marseille who went from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, a prop by trade, with a wrecked ankle but who keeps the rugby…
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PublishedCoralie Bême: from gymnastics to RC Vannes, a singular journey
Coralie Bême, 21, is a student in sports science, is playing her 3rd season with RC Vannes, as a prop or a lock or a number 8. Quite a number. …
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PublishedBrittany, the laughing oval: Breton clubs gather for their Assises
Between prevention, education and civic commitment, the Assises of Breton rugby brought together more than 160 club representatives at Saint-Cyr-Coëtquidan. A day dedicated to responsibility and cohesion, the sign of a regional game reaching full maturity.
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PublishedDiane Amangoua, a pioneer of women’s rugby in the Morbihan
In the Morbihan, women's rugby has a face: that of Diane Amangoua. Player, founder and coach, she is the woman behind the Breizh'Barians, the combined side that became the women's section of RC Vannes. The portrait of an enthusiast who, for more than ten years, has been growing Breton women's rugby with energy and conviction.
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PublishedClaude Hoarau, a RC Vannes soldier since 1992
A former soldier, born on Réunion but Breton at heart, Claude Hoarau embodies the spirit of RC Vannes all on his own. Faithful since 1992, he waves his black-and-white flag at every match like a banner of passion and of memory, that of a lost friend, and of a club he has never left
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PublishedMichel Mayer, the voice of rugby in La Baule
He has never played rugby, but he talks about it as if he were born into it. Michel Mayer, an events host turned official announcer of Rugby Club Baulois, puts as much heart as he does decibels into his work. Between passion, chance and a love of the peninsula, he has become the voice of a club that breathes conviviality and the third half.
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Published30 matches max: what French rugby really thinks
Is French rugby really sheltered from the storm? While the LNR insists that World Rugby's 30-match limit will not apply in France, the row set off by the announcement has above all exposed the cracks in a system. Can the debate on the clubs' economic model and player health still be avoided?
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PublishedPaul Rey, a Breton destiny
Is volunteering contagious? Is it genetic? In the Rey family, both, sir! Or is it handed down from father to son? Or from son to father? Handed down from father to son, to daughter, from mother to son, to daughter.
