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Didier Retière, the former Racing 92 and France prop, has been appointed national technical director of the French Tennis Federation in what ranks among the more unlikely administrative pivots in recent memory.
Retière, who retired from professional rugby after a career built on tighthead graft, told Rugbyrama he is uncertain whether he will return to the oval-ball game.
The move places a man schooled in rugby's collisional logic at the helm of elite tennis development in France, a role typically reserved for former racquet players or sport-science specialists.
Retière's tenure at Racing included front-row duty during the club's resurgence in the Top 14, though his post-playing ambitions evidently lay beyond the traditional pathway of coaching or scouting.
The FFT appointment suggests French sport federations are willing to import leadership from outside their traditional talent pools, though whether scrum nous translates to baseline strategy remains an open question.
As reported by Rugbyrama · Read the full article →