Mignoni's Toulon return
The head coach is back from a leave of absence due to mental health issues before they host Stade Français
Paris, FRANCE: Being in charge of Toulon is arguably one of the toughest and most-scrutinised jobs in French club rugby.
The expectation from hot-blooded southern supporters crammed into the ant’s nest of a stadium that is Stade Mayol is through the roof.
This Saturday, Pierre Mignoni takes charge of his first game after returning from almost a month off to deal with mental health issues as the three-time Champions Cup winners welcome Stade Français.
Former scrum-half Mignoni knows Rugby Club Toulonnais (or RCT as they’re known by fans) better than most having grown up metres away from Mayol before making his senior debut for les Rouges et noir as a 17-year-old.
The now 49-year-old ended his playing career in 2011 on the Côte d’Azur at the four-time French champions playing alongside the early generation of galacticos including Jonny Wilkinson, Sonny Bill Williams and Joe van Niekerk.
The 28-time France international’s first coaching gig was with their attack, helping them to the European hat-trick between 2013 and 2015.
He then spent seven years at Lyon, guiding them to Top 14 promotion, before a return to his boyhood club as director of rugby in 2022.
“From a very young age I was vaccinated in the colours of RCT” Mignoni said in 2010
Since taking over Mignoni seems to have a settled a ship, winning the Challenge Cup in 2023 before reaching the Champions Cup quarter-finals and Top 14 semi-finals last season.
He has some established French names like Charles Ollivon, Baptiste Serin and Jean-Baptiste Gros mixed in with some big-name foreigners, mainly English, such as Dave Ribbans and Kyle Sinckler in his squad.
This term, Mignoni has led Toulon to seventh in the table but on February 19 the club announced he was taking a spell of leave to deal with a burn-out.
Last Friday, upon his return, he spoke to a handful of journalists at the club’s headquarters and explained his body and mind had given in due to long work hours, little sleep and pressure.
The Mayol crowd have high hopes, there are a good half a dozen or so journalists that follow the club day in day out, and the club’s slogan of “Ici, tout est different” (Here, everything is different) carries weight.
During his time away he found it hard to leave his bedroom before finding comfort in going for long walks and the support of his wife.
“It’s not the workload on the field that’s heavy. It’s the mental load” - Mignoni said last Friday
Mignoni has opened the door further to talk about mental health in the sport, especially among coaches.
He would have been willing to leave the role he so fondly cares for, at the club he adores but now turns his focus back to on-field issues and the climax to the season as they battle on two fronts.
Toulon are without a win in three games, they trail this weekend’s Parisian visitors by four points and will host the Stormers in the Champions Cup last 16 on April 4 with an eye on a first major trophy since 2015.
French Press: The best of the week’s media coverage
The final behind-the-scenes video from France and this Six Nations looking at the week before beating England and lifting the title. Dorian ‘Doudou’ has a go at ballet, Fabien Galthié almost does the splits and Rodrigue Neti is the changing room DJ.
Galthié tells RMC Sport in his first interview since the Six Nations success law changes have forced him to later Les Bleus’ gameplan. Galthié is also interviewed in Friday’s Midi Olympique.
Another mini-documentary, another inside piece on Castres, another corker from RugbyPhysio.
Jeu de mots, jeu de mains: Gallic rugby vocabulary
Quadruple: noun. Four times, yes Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored a quadruple against England last Saturday. Where would Les Bleus be without his clinical finishing?
À table! Food, drink and anything in between
Petit savoyard: My final discover from the Alps’ ski holiday. A fruity, hard cheese made from cow’s milk matured for four months. I thought the closest French cheese to cheddar would be a young Cantal from the Auvergne, but this is another contender.
Merci beaucoup for reading this week’s Jouez: The French Rugby Dispatch, I’ll be back next Thursday for more!