A page of French rugby closes… and another opens immediately. Morgan Parra has officially announced his retirement as a player. At 34, the scrum half will hang up his crampons and discover the coach’s whistle. The former international (71 selections) will remain in Paris and will join the staff this summer alongside future managers, Laurent Labit and Karim Ghezal.
A decision which was expected, and which was not that difficult to take, as explained by Morgan Parra in the columns of L’Equipe. “I had prepared myself. If it wasn’t this year, it would have been the next. You have to know how to say stop! I didn’t want to live the year too many, the difficult year, the year when you no longer have fun. I had always told myself that I would stop in 2022, at the end of my contract in Clermont. Maybe subconsciously it helped me make my decision more easily.”
A choice also facilitated by the arrival of a new project just behind. “I tell myself that it’s the right time, insists the former No. 9 of ASM. This new adventure in the staff of Laurent (Labit) and Karim (Ghezal) also comes at the right time. Might as well start at the same time as them. Then, am I cut out for this? Either way, I’m tempted!”
A coaching career that seems all mapped out and predestined. “I coached amateur teams around Clermont for years. It is sharing, conviviality, exchange. I can’t say that I absolutely wanted to train. But it was in the back of my mind. I want to bring my experience, but also to learn.
Morgan Parra will therefore go overnight from player to coach, without even taking the whole cut. A situation that does not worry the future ex-scrum half. “I have this opportunity, I’m going all out and we’ll see. If I don’t like it or if it doesn’t fit, I won’t have any regrets. The discussions with Karim and Laurent went very well, which reassured me. It needed a feeling. Rugby remains a passion. If it is to come every morning without pleasure, it has no interest.
However, the former finalist of the 2011 World Cup does not seem worried about his future, which could ultimately be written far from the oval. “If one day rugby has to stop, that doesn’t scare me.”
