2023-09-02 07:50:11
It was the surprise transfer of the summer. Rory Kockott, scrum half of South African origin (37 years old, 11 caps with the XV of France) landed in Paris in early August as a joker during the World Cup for the Stade Français. A club which also has Morgan Parra (34, 71 caps) in its ranks, who arrived the summer before and became a coach in the off-season.
For the first time this Thursday, before the match against Montpellier (Saturday, 5 p.m. at Jean-Bouin for the 3rd day of the Top 14), Morgan Parra returned to this improbable reunion with Rory Kockott. “It’s going very well,” says Parra. I had the chance to meet him in 2015 during the World Cup. We need Rory to do Rory. I told him. He must bring us his aggressiveness. He loves competition. He is a winner, who knows the game perfectly well. We have two young number nines (Jules Gimbert and Thibault Motassi, editor’s note), we need to supervise them, they can learn from him for a few months. »
Substitute in the first two games (victories in Perpignan and against Oyonnax), Rory Kockott has already made his mark with the first words with the referees – his specialty -, as soon as he comes into play in Perpignan on August 26. “I love the character, but also the player, even if of course with the referees, it’s more complicated, smiles Morgan Parra. We also try to channel it, so that it doesn’t cost us too many penalties. So far so good! »
Former competitors for the post of scrum half of the XV of France, rivals also on the lawns of the Top 14 with their historic clubs of Castres (11 seasons and 2 titles for Kockott) and Clermont (13 years and 2 shields also for Parra) , these two “old-fashioned” number 9s, barking and painful for opponents and referees alike, have a lot in common. But from there to find them in the same jersey…
“It should have been me instead of you!” »
However, this is what happened this summer, with another surprise: it was the younger of the two, Parra, 34, who became a coach, while Kockott, 37, returned to the lawn. Last year, it was the opposite: Rory Kockott had started his retraining on the Castres bench, while Morgan Parra was playing his last matches with Stade Français.
It was a combination of circumstances that brought these two together. Chewed by years at the highest level, Morgan Parra brought forward his retirement as a player a year before the end of his contract, seduced by the opportunity for retraining offered by Paris, as assistant coach in charge of attack and play at the foot.
Kockott, he put on his cleats for a few games at the end of the season with Castres, before finding himself without a contract this summer. The call from the field was stronger: the former Castrais was offered a World Cup joker contract by the Stade Français (a kind of fixed-term contract to compensate for the absence of the internationals selected for the World Cup, from August to november).
The two former internationals had fun with this crossed trajectory. “He said to me: it should have been me in your place, says Morgan Parra. But I replied: no, no, you are in much better shape than me! He was in really good shape when he arrived. He only had a week to adjust, then two games where he was a substitute. We hope things will go well this weekend, that he will be able to bring this experience, this stability to the team. »
For this last match before the interruption of the Top 14 for 8 weeks, World Cup requires, Parra has in any case chosen to establish Rory Kockott. It should bark Saturday on the side of Jean-Bouin…
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