Jules Le Bail swaps the scrum-half shirt for the Vannes staff

Jules Le Bail is staying at Vannes. On Wednesday 30 September the Breton club confirmed that its former scrum-half has joined Jean-Noël Spitzer’s staff.

Le Bail will be “responsible for the defence of the professional squad”, the club statement says. He will also join the unit that supports academy players moving up to the professional group, coordinated by Tanguy Kerdrain.

The appointment formalises a role he was already playing informally. Last season, unable to play, he regularly attended training. “I wasn’t on the staff last year, but I made myself available to help the players because I couldn’t play. I was offered the chance to stay on the field and I said yes straight away,” he told Le Télégramme.

A career ended by one eye

Le Bail announced in May that he was ending his career after losing the sight in one eye. The cause has not been made public. His last match was on 22 February 2025, a Top 14 win for Vannes over Montpellier (37-24), when he came off the bench.

A product of the La Rochelle academy, he played 64 matches for the Maritime club, 49 of them in the Top 14, then 112 for Vannes over two spells, 100 of them in Pro D2. He was part of the squad that won the club’s first promotion to the Top 14 in 2024.

A new job, a brother in the squad

“I have to learn the job. I was a player, coaching is completely different. I already lost my voice at the first session, I’ll have to work on that,” he told Le Télégramme. He joins Yoann Boulanger, Jeremy Davidson, Goulven Le Garrec and Mikaele Tuugahala on the coaching staff.

He will also coach his brother Clovis, a 30-year-old scrum-half who arrived from Toulon this summer and has come off the bench in the last three matches.

Defence, the promoted side’s priority

Vannes have lost their first four Top 14 matches and conceded 112 points, an average of 28 per game: 29-20 at Castres, 12-26 against Montpellier, 23-29 against Toulouse and 28-10 at Toulon. They host Pau on Saturday 3 October in round 5.