Ulster head coach Jono Gibbes is coy on speculation linking him with a move to La Rochelle as he prepares to return to Waikato after more than 10 years in Irish Rugby.
Gibbes announced in March that he would be returning to New Zealand for family reasons, however, the 41-year-old held talks with La Rochelle last week about the club’s vacant coaching role.
Gibbes said that his primary focus was on a long haul flight to New Zealand with his three kids when he was asked about speculation linking him to the French club but he did acknowledge that a return to the northern hemisphere is a possibility.
What’s next for departing @UlsterRugby head coach Jono Gibbes? pic.twitter.com/kuJ2B8mdFL
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) May 20, 2018
“To be honest I have a got 35-hour travel day coming up with three young kids so that is what needs to be dealt with,” said Gibbes.
“Not sure if you have done that with three kids to NZ. It is pretty traumatic.”
He continued: “Next season, I don’t know categorically the answer to that.
“To be fair, I just wanted to do my part here the best I can and pay back the support I’ve had from Ulster, the people in the organisation who have backed me up.
“Some people won’t know all of them, Davy Miller at an executive level, I’ve been treated really well, supported really well.
“There have been massive challenges on and off the field but I do believe there’s enough of the right people here to take it forward. That story is going to start with Dan, he’s a good man. The start date is still to be worked through but I think he’s going to add massive value.”
Former Ulster flanker Stephen Ferris said that Gibbes had some nerve talking to La Rochelle in the week of a Champions Cup play-off but Gibbes insists that his visit to France did not impact on the team’s preparations.
“I guess the only thing I’d say is that I don’t want people to feel like the performance or the preparation was compromised,” said Gibbes.
“That’s certainly not the case, I think that it was the players’ day off and that’s not wholly the reason for the trip to France on that day, for me it was the anomaly that there were three weeks with no game so there was a lot of detail put in place.
“We had tried to really scale down having too many messages this week. I hope supporters, I would hate for them to think that our preparation was compromised because it certainly wasn’t.
“The things that we’ve built over the last nine months, but also the last three weeks since Munster, came through against Ospreys. I don’t think, for me, I feel confident that Thursday didn’t compromise that.”
