Disappearance of Medhi Narjissi: the suspension of the ex-U18 manager canceled by the courts

The Bordeaux administrative court has canceled the suspension of the former manager of the France U18 team Stéphane Cambos, implicated in the disappearance at sea of ​​young rugby player Medhi Narjissi in 2024 during an internship in South Africa.

The young player from Stade Toulousain, aged 17, was swept away by the waves on August 7, 2024 during a recovery session organized on a beach known to be dangerous near the Cape of Good Hope. His body has not been found. Robin Ladauge, the physical trainer of the French under-18 team, and Stéphane Cambos, the former manager, were indicted for involuntary manslaughter in May and June 2025 respectively. In August 2025, the Ministries of National Education and Sport suspended Mr. Cambos from his functions for a period of two years, one of which was permanent, on the grounds that he had shown “culpable negligence”. Mr. Ladauge had been dismissed from the civil service.

A sanction canceled, but an indictment still in progress

Relying in particular on the investigations of the General Inspectorate of Education (IGESR) and the French Rugby Federation, itself indicted for involuntary homicide, the Bordeaux administrative court looked into several key moments leading to this swim, in a decision dated September 15 revealed by the newspaper Sud Ouest. The court notes several successive refusals by Mr. Cambos, in particular for “security reasons”, to a recovery session on the beach of Dias Beach. For the court, the ex-manager of the U18s found himself on August 7 “faced with the fait accompli of a cold water recovery session organized without his knowledge, with the participation of several members of the management, in a manifest act of defiance with regard to his authority”.

Thus, the ministerial sanction which accuses him of not having “formally prevented” the physical trainer from going down to the beach and organizing the swimming activity “results from an error in the assessment of the facts”, consider the administrative judges. And on the accusations of “culpable negligence”, the court points to an “error of legal qualification”. In the criminal aspect of the case, investigated in Agen, Mr. Cambos remains indicted for manslaughter. Contacted by AFP, his lawyer, Me Audrey Singer, did not comment on the decision of the administrative court.