Pro D2 – From hope to failure: Patrice Collazo’s failed visit to Brive

Patrice Collazo is no longer the Brive coach. Announced by the CAB at the beginning of this weekThis departure follows the team’s disappointing performance since the start of the Pro D2 season. Big favorites for the title, Simon Gillham’s club are in eighth place in the championship after that another defeat, at home against Soyaux-Angoulême. Collazo, who arrived in Corrèze in December 2022, will therefore have only been at the head of the CAB for eleven months. A passage full of ups but especially downs, which reveals a real observation of failure.

Thundering debut

After a catastrophic start to the season last year, Brive decided to say goodbye to his trainer Jeremy Davidson. One man was named as designated successor: Patrice Collazo. After his adventure with Toulon, which ended in black pudding water, the technician was looking for a new project and reported to the CAB on December 22… two days before the reception in Clermont. The former international pillar (1 selection) was present in the stands heroic success of his new players against the ASM. A win achieved thanks to a converted try in the 89th minute.

On the other hand, he was on the field the following weekend, for the trip to the Lyon lawn and then in the battle for the top 6. To everyone’s surprise, his Brivists won in the Matmut Stadium in Gerland (27-30). Transformed and transcended, the Coujoux scored a third win in a row against Toulon, Collazo’s former club. At the time, Brive were thirteenth, but took a seven-point lead over Perpignan, while falling to two small units from Pau. They just don’t know it yet, but the Brivists will only take two small points in the next three months.

An inexorable descent

During the scary match against Perpignan, Brive cracked by taking a decisive defeat on its own lawn. A setback from which the Coujoux never recovered. After the success against Toulon, it was seven defeats in a row that devastated the Brivistes. Despite wins against Pau and especially in Montpellier at the end of the season, CAB fell seven points behind Perpignan and finished last in the Top 14. A place synonymous with origins in Pro D2a real disaster for the club from Corrèze.

A major project then had to be carried out in the summer to compensate for the departure of new executives and try to achieve a coherent pre-season transfer window in Pro D2. A mission that was successful on paper before the start of the 2023-2024 season. Brive was a big favorite for the title in the antechamber of the elite. But soon Collazo and his men discovered that nothing would be easy in Pro D2.

The Pro D2 is not easy!

From the first day of this new season, Brive showed that it had the capabilities to be a major player in this championship, but something was missing to win in Agen (32-29 defeat). The same story two weeks later in Montauban (34-28 defeat). Fortunately for them, the White and Black had until then secured Amédée Domenech on their lawn. The blow Valence-Romans suffered, on the other hand, was a turning point. With a 45 to 10 sweep, the Brivists seemed to lose all their confidence that day.

This resulted in a (very) unconvincing success against newly promoted Dacquois in Brive, before a slight improvement against Grenoble and Rouen, with the leaders having already issued an ultimatum to Collazo and his staff. But CAB’s difficulties were then striking at Aurillac and finally against Soyaux-Angoulême. It was this latest setback, which was the result of a still very messy match, that sounded the death knell for Collazo’s Brive adventure. The manager was thanked at the start of the week but never knew how to right the boat and ultimately went down with Brive.