The heavy defeat against his former club La Rochelle (39-6, Sunday) got the better of Patrice Collazo’s fate on the harbor. RC Toulon, 13th in the Top 14 ranking, announced on Tuesday October 26 in a terse press release the end of its collaboration, “from a common agreement“, with his manager.
Penultimate in the standings, with only two victories in eight days of the championship, the three-time European champion and four-time champion of France has had a start to the season at odds with his usual standards. “We are not in touch, we are not in scrum, we are not ready in the engagement”, had recognized the former international pillar after Sunday’s meeting against the Rochelais, conceding to have “headache” by looking at the ranking of his team.
Born in La Seyne-sur-Mer (Var), in the suburbs of Toulon, Collazo only wore the Toulon jersey for one season in his playing career, during the 1995-1996 season, before making the major part of his career away from the harbor, and in particular in the English club Gloucester for five years.
Former coach of La Rochelle, whom he raised to the Top 14 in 2014, Patrice Collazo joined Toulon in the summer of 2018 for a three-season contract. Finalist of the European Challenge, the small European Cup, in 2020, RC Toulon has not played in the final of the French championship since 2017 and its defeat against Clermont. In July 2020, President Bernard Lemaître renewed his confidence in his manager, by initialing a four-year contract extension. Unusual occurrence in the world of professional rugby.
The Rouge et Noir will be led by James Coughlan in preparation for his next Top 14 match, at home against Biarritz. The name of Collazo’s successor has not yet been released. The president of the Var club, Bernard Lemaître, will give a press conference on Friday October 29 at 9:30 am.