 Mola in 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | Ugo Mola | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 14 May 1973 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Sainte-Foy-la-Grande, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ugo Mola (born 14 May 1973) is a French rugby union player and coach. He is currently the head coach of Top 14 club Stade Toulousain.
Mola played on the wing. He played for Toulouse (including winning the Heineken Champions Cup and the Top 14) between 1990 and 1996, and then for Dax and Castres before retiring as a player in 2005. [1]
He made twelve appearances for France during his career, between 1997 and 1999. [2] He scored 6 tries, [3] including a hat-trick of tries against Namibia in the 1999 Rugby World Cup. [4]
Mola coached at Castres in 2006, and then at club side SC Mazamet. Between 2008 and 2012 he worked with Brive alongside the likes of Laurent Seigne and Christophe Laussucq. [5]
Mola became Head coach of Stade Toulousain in the summer of 2015. Following the departure of Guy Novès, manager of Stade Toulouse since 1993, Mola was chosen to replace Noves at the club in 2018. After finishing 12th in the TOP14, Toulouse recruited players including Antoine Dupont, Charlie Faumuina, Zack Holmes and Cheslin Kolbe. Mola claimed his first title as the Toulouse head coach winning the 2018/19 TOP14. [6]
Mola coaches a fast, off-loading, carefree approach, and has a strong squad, [7] and sees top-level success as a long-term project. [8] He has emphasised a family atmosphere at the club, and the presence of young leaders and experienced players. [9]
Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The Top 14 is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the France National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism of LNR. There is promotion and relegation between the Top 14 and the next level down, the Pro D2. The fourteen best rugby teams in France participate in the competition, hence the name Top 14. The competition was previously known as the Top 16.
Castres Olympique is a French rugby union club located in the Occitanian city of Castres and is currently competing in the top level of the French league system.
Guy Novès is a former French rugby union player and most recently coach of the French national team. Born in Toulouse, Novès, who played on the wing, was capped seven times for his country, and played with Stade Toulousain from 1975 to 1987 and was a member of the team that won the Bouclier de Brennus in 1985 and 1986. He later coached the side in a tenure that lasted 22 years, when he won the French championship nine times and the Heineken Cup four times.
Clément Poitrenaud is a former French rugby union footballer. His usual position is at fullback but he also plays at centre. He most recently played for South African side the Sharks in Super Rugby, having represented Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition between 2000 and 2016, and France between 2001 and 2012, including at the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia and the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. He has since transitioned into a role of partner, father and coach.
Mario Ledesma Arocena is an Argentine rugby union coach and a former international rugby player. He played in Argentina's successful 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign and had a professional playing career in France spanning 10 years. Since retiring he has coached at the highest level in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and was most recently the head coach of the Argentine national team.
Émile "Milou" Ntamack is a French former rugby union footballer. He played professionally for Stade Toulousain and France, winning 46 caps. Ntamack made his French debut against Wales during the 1994 Five Nations Championship. Ntamack was part of the Grand Slam winning sides in 1997. He was in the 1995 and 1999 World Cup squads. He initially announced his retirement in 2003 due to a facial injury, however he then stayed on for another year before retiring in 2004. His younger brother, Francis Ntamack was also capped by France. Ntamack coached the Espoirs team of the Stade Toulousain and the French U21 team which was the first Northern Hemisphere side to win the World Championships in this age category, held in the Auvergne in 2006.
Maxime Médard is a former French rugby union player who plays his club rugby for French club Stade Toulousain in Top 14 and France internationally. He can play as both a full-back and on the wing and is described by assistant national team coach Émile Ntamack as an "incredible talent" that, during the 2010–11 season, was finally "realizing his potential". Medard is a two-time winner of the Heineken Cup and, in 2008, won the Top 14 for the first time. Also referred to as 'The French Wolverine.'
Rory Kockott is a professional rugby union player who plays as scrum-half for Stade Français in France's Top 14. Born in South Africa, he played for the France national team
The 2009–10 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). It began on August 14, 2009 with a match between Toulon and Stade Français at Stade Mayol in Toulon, and continued through to the final at the Stade de France on May 29, 2010.
The 2011–12 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Home-and-away play began on August 26, 2011. Two new teams from the 2010–11 Rugby Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Lyon and Bordeaux Bègles in place of the two relegated teams, La Rochelle and Bourgoin.
The 2012–13 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2011–12 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 this year, Grenoble and Stade Montois in place of the two relegated teams, CA Brive and Lyon OU. Home-and-away play began on 17 August 2012 and continued through to 5 May 2013. The regular season was followed by a three-round playoff involving the top six sides. The final was contested at the Stade de France between Toulon and Castres; the match was won 19–14 by Castres to earn them their first title since the controversial final in 1993.
Yohan Montès is a former French rugby union player who played as a Prop.
In June 2016, France played a two-test series against Argentina as part of the 2016 mid-year rugby union tests. They played Los Pumas across the two weeks that were allocated to the June International window, and which were part of the fourth year of the global rugby calendar established by the International Rugby Board, which runs through to 2019. This was the first French tour to Argentina since their drawn series in 2012.
Antoine Dupont is a French professional rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half for Top 14 club Toulouse and captains the France national team.
The 2018–19 Top 14 competition was the 120th season of the French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2017–18 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 in place of the two relegated teams, Oyonnax and Brive.
David Faimafiliotamaʻitaʻi Ainuʻu is a rugby union player who plays as a prop for Toulouse in France's Top14 and for the United States men's national team. Ainuʻu has also represented the United States with multiple age-grade sides—including the United States national under-20 rugby union team.
Robert Bru was a French rugby union coach.
Emmanuel Latu-Meafou is a professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for Top 14 club Toulouse and the France national team. Born in New Zealand to parents from Samoa, before moving to Australia where he was raised, he later obtained French nationality in 2023 and made his debut for his adoptive country in 2024.
Stéphane Ougier is a French former rugby union international.
   | This biographical article relating to French rugby union is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |