Stade Français – MHR: Laurent Labit recognizes “dysfunctions” with Karim Ghezal

Laurent Labit est désormais seul à la tête du sportif au Stade Français. MAXPPP – Thierry LARRET

Laurent Labit, the Stade Français rugby director, acknowledged on Tuesday, October 1st, that he had had “dysfunctions” with coach Karim Ghezal, whose departure was announced by the club on Monday, less than a year after their joint arrival.

“We arrived together, I had imagined a collaboration and an organization, and it is clear that we had some dysfunctions”, Laurent Labit declared at a press conference on Tuesday.

The two men arrived together in November 2023 at the Parisian club, after having worked together within the staff of the XV of France.

"We are not going to say that one is good, the other not, that is not it at all. It's in our operation that we didn't find our place", explained the director of rugby for the Parisian club.

Zirakashvili in solidarity with Ghezal

"The management of a staff, training sessions, the vision of the game… It must be aligned a minimum", said Labit, who acknowledged that these disagreements already existed before, despite the Stade Français' good season, second in the regular season. “It didn't happen in a month, we discussed, we tried to align, to readjust”.

This departure led to a reorganization: Laurent Labit “takes over” on rugby, still assisted by the Englishman Paul Gustard, in charge of defense, Julien Tastet for the forwards and Morgan Parra for the attack and kicking.

The former Georgian pillar Davit Zirakashvili, who intervened once a week for scrum training, has himself ceased his collaboration with the club, “in solidarity” with Karim Ghezal, announced Laurent Labit.

“We had adjustments to make, we made them”

A temporary internal solution was found with Stade Français pillar Paul Alo-Emile, who is currently injured in a shoulder injury.

Thirteenth in the Top 14 with just one win in four games, Stade Français is in a difficult situation before hosting Montpellier on Saturday, but “not in crisis”, assured Laurent Labit.

“We had to make adjustments, we made them”. “The club's situation is not Karim's (Ghezal's) responsibility, but everyone's” he added.