Stade Francais have opened talks with Paul Gustard about extending his deal, which expires at the end of next season, after his former club Leicester Tigers failed to agree a transfer fee to buy out the last year of his contract.
Gustard, 49, was part of the Tigers side that defeated Stade to win the Heineken Cup in 2001 and was Leicester’s first choice to replace Michael Cheika, whose one-year contract expires at Welford Road this summer.
But Capri-Sun king Hans-Peter Wild, one of Europe’s wealthiest men, wants to reward the former England defence coach for his loyalty to Stade by offering him a long-term extension to his current deal.
Multi-billionaire Wild was reluctant to lose Gustard, who steered Stade to Top 14 safety after being promoted to head coach when Karim Ghezal was sacked last September, just four games into the campaign.
Gustard was handed sole control of team affairs in February after director of rugby Laurent Labit was moved aside following defeats to Toulon and Vannes, which left Stade bottom of the table despite a win over Montpellier.
However, Gustard has since plotted a mini-revival, moving Stade into 12th place with a six-point gap ahead of Vannes, who are favourites to drop back into Pro D2 after only one season among the top tier.
Gustard spent seven years coaching at Saracens before becoming England’s defence coach in 2016. He has worked abroad since leaving Harlequins in 2021, where he was head of rugby for three years.
He spent a season as assistant coach at Benetton before moving to Paris in 2022 as Stade’s defence coach, later being promoted to the top job.
Gustard said that when he moved to Italy, he wanted to experience working abroad while his family was young and to challenge himself, with no sign the adventure is ending soon.
