FORMER FRANCE INTERNATIONAL Thomas Lievremont has been sacked as coach of Romania after winning just one of three matches in November, the national federation announced on Friday.
Olivier Rieg, the fitness coach, has also been axed.
“This decision is explained by the non-respect of several contractual clauses, taken on by the two coaches, which did not allow us to reach the performance objectives agreed by World Rugby and the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR),” read a statement on the FRR website.
A source within the FRR told AFP that Lievremont, who was only appointed in September with the intention of taking Romania through to the 2023 World Cup, “had committed to win three victories in November.”
Instead, Romania achieved a single win, beating Portugal 36-6 in the Rugby Europe Championship before going down 31-5 to the USA and 27-20 to Uruguay.
Romania will miss the 2019 World Cup in Japan following a scandal in their European qualifying group.
“I want to bring back the smile of all those who love rugby in this country,” Lievremont said at the time of his appointment. “We cannot forget what happened, but we have to focus on the future and on the World Cup in 2023.”
As a player, Lievremont won the French national championship three times with Biarritz (2002, 2005 and 2006) and captained the club in the 2006 European Cup final. He was part of the French team that finished runner-up in the 1999 World Cup, going on to win 37 caps for Les Bleus.
He is the younger brother of Marc Lievremont, who coached France from 2007 to 2011.
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There are a lot of columns on this player across every outlet but none ever seem to address what exactly her concerns are and/or what would it take to get her to play for Norway again. It appears it started due to the Norway womens team not getting the same treatment as the mens team so proper order in putting their foot down until they got that, but as far as it was reported the Norwegians addressed that issue fairly comprehensively and yet she still won’t play.
Problem is that it doesn’t bring in as much money as the men’s game. You can expect to play in front of a fraction of the crowd and still expect the same money. That said, previous stories of the FAI expecting women’s teams to hand back gear and be out of pocket for representing their country is crazy. If the women’s game generates as much money, they should be paid accordingly, but as things stand, it doesn’t.
@Rocky: expenses being equal should be a given. The national team is the national team regardless of gender. There was a time the irish women got about €30 a day per diem while on international duty or at training camp etc which might not sound much but when you are taking your annual leave from working in the type of job a 21 or 22 year old might have it was nice to have. Of course the Big Cheese pulled that rug out from under them disgracefully.
@Rocky: But most are not talking about appearance money they’re talking about the basics. Proper kit, proper medical, proper training facilities, showcasing, insurance, and decent expenses. In many cases the latter is way more important as they don’t earn nearly as much as your average Male player…and if they are representing their country, which for most will be the height of media exposure, all of the above is the least they should be getting