Western Force forge ground-breaking alliance with French Top 14 champions Montpellier
on The West behind a paywall, not sure if anyone has access, sounds interesting
Printable View
Western Force forge ground-breaking alliance with French Top 14 champions Montpellier
on The West behind a paywall, not sure if anyone has access, sounds interesting
I assume that this is due to our sponsorship with Altrad: https://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=42789
Western Force forge ground-breaking alliance with French Top 14 champions Montpellier
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Mon, 8 August 2022 2:00PM
Western Force have forged a ground-breaking international alliance with French Top 14 champions Montpellier.
The clubs are investigating a range of player loan and contracting possibilities, coach exchanges and matches between the sides.
The Force signed a multi-million dollar, four-year sponsorship deal with French construction company Altrad earlier this year.
Montpellier, who secured their first top-tier domestic title last season with a 29-10 victory over Castres in the Top 14 final, are owned by billionaire entrepreneur Mohed Altrad.
Altrad also has a $120 million, six-season sponsorship deal with the All Blacks and in 2018 paid $60 million to have his company name on the front of the French national team jumper.
Force chief executive Tony Lewis and rugby manager Matt Hodgson met the Montpellier owner, coaches, players and management on a four-day visit to France.
“It’s given us for food for thought,” Lewis said.
“There are things we are doing really well that we can tick off, things we can do better, to get ourselves on the same page because there are opportunities between the two clubs.
“We looked at contracting opportunities.
“If we were chasing the same player, is there an opportunity to do something together?
“Could we have a four-year contract, two years with us and two with Montpellier?”
Lewis said they had discussed whether Force players could move to Montpellier on a “medical joker” that allows players to join a French club as a short-term injury replacement.
“There could be an opportunity for our players to gain experience. We discussed the loan player concept and what that would that look like,” he said.
“We see coach exchange as a real opportunity.
“There’s a keenness among the coaches at Montpellier to spend some time in our system.
“One of the things we’d like to do is have three matches against the Montpellier academy in the August window.
“They would play here one year and we would go to France the next.
“Another opportunity we saw was in the female space, for them to have players come and play club and Super W rugby.”
Lewis said talks had been “incredibly valuable”.
“One of the key discussion points was how we develop a relationship between the two clubs,” he said.
“How they get value out of the sponsorship, how we get value of of it.
“How we can grow together.”
https://thewest.com.au/sport/western...lier-c-7797912
https://images.thewest.com.au/public...mpolicy=wan_v3
My mate in France is a big Montpellier, would be cool to see an "Atrad Challenge Cup" once a year.
2023 can't come soon enough. Im excited!!
Sounds exciting!!