{"id":774913,"date":"2026-02-19T13:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/774913\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:25:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:25:11","slug":"bayonne-issue-statement-after-axeing-gregory-patat-mid-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/774913\/","title":{"rendered":"Bayonne issue statement after axeing Gr\u00e9gory Patat mid-season"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Despite a sensational 2024\/25 season, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/bayonne\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bayonne<\/a> qualified for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/top-14\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Top 14<\/a> semi-finals for the first time in 42 years, Gr\u00e9gory Patat\u2019s time with Aviron Bayonnais is over, as the club announced this morning.<\/p>\n<p>In a short statement on their website, the French Basque club said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis decision comes at a crucial point in the season, as the main team needs a fresh start. Since our goals for the season are still attainable, making this decision was necessary for the club to continue striving toward its targets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAviron Bayonnais would like to thank Gr\u00e9gory Patat for the work accomplished at the head of the first team during these three and a half seasons, during which he contributed to the club\u2019s progress in the Top 14 and on the European stage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patat, who previously worked with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/la-rochelle\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stade Rochelais<\/a> between 2014 and 2021 as espoirs and senior forwards coach, signed his first contract with Bayonne in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In his first two seasons at the club, Patat managed only eighth and 12th-place Top 14 finishes, with Aviron Bayonnais president Philippe Tayeb unhappy with the team\u2019s performance. Rumours arose of growing unease between the two, with Tayeb searching for a suitable replacement.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, it was under Patat\u2019s reign as general manager that Bleu Ciel et Blanc achieved their best Top 14 regular season finish in 15 years, placing fourth in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/clermont\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Clermont<\/a> at home, Bayonne came out on top to qualify for the Top 14 semi-final, a first since 1983. Although Patat and the club fell short against Stade Toulousain in the subsequent semi-final, fans still considered the season a success.<\/p>\n<p>However, the relationship between Philippe Tayeb and Gr\u00e9gory Patat has not been the same, with several clashes between them in the last six months.<\/p>\n<p>Even though the club extended the general manager\u2019s contract last October, Tayeb decided to hire former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugbypass.com\/teams\/racing-92\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Racing 92<\/a> head coach Laurent Travers as Bayonne\u2019s director of rugby, which only made matters worse.<\/p>\n<p>After several disappointing results, and with the club in 12th place, Patat was relieved of his role on Thursday, bringing an end to his tenure.<\/p>\n<p>Backs coach G\u00e9rard Fraser will now take the reins until the end of the season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a sensational 2024\/25 season, when Bayonne qualified for the Top 14 semi-finals for the first time in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":774914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[4151,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-774913","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116097523640805171","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=774913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/774913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=774913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=774913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=774913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}