[1][2][3] Brunel, who has spent most of his career in France, formally coached his former team Auch, as well as Bordeaux Bègles, Colomiers, Pau and Perpignan.

During the 1979–80 French Rugby Union Championship, Brunel played for Grenoble, where they made it to the Last 32 stage, but was beaten by Montferrand 10–3.

In 1995, he arrived at Colomiers, where in just his second season in charge, he led the team to the Quarter-finals of the 1996–97 French Rugby Union Championship.

During the 1997–98 season, he led the team to the Semi-final of the French Rugby Union Championship, but narrowly lost to Perpignan 15–12.

[4] In 1999, Brunel took the team one step forwards, leading them to the 1999 Heineken Cup Final, only to lose to Ulster 21–6.

[5] In 1999, he moved to Pau, where during the 1999–2000 French Rugby Union Championship, they made it to the semi-final, where they lost to Brunel former club Colomiers 24–22.

In 2001, Jacques Brunel joined the technical staff of the French national team under the guidance of Bernard Laporte, training the forwards.

[6] Under his guidance, France became known for their strong forwards work, which was a key element in their Six Nations Championship grand slam winning campaigns in 2002 and 2004.

Due to the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, Italy joined Scotland, Samoa and South Africa in a quadrangular tournament hosted by the Springboks.

Until his departure, Bordeaux put in inconsistent performances in the 2017–18 Top 14 season, winning just 7 games in the opening 13 rounds.

Whilst in the European Challenge Cup, they had only managed to defeat Russian side Enisey-STM heading into the final two rounds.

With the announcement of Brunel stepping up to lead the French national team, he coached his last game at Bordeaux on 30 December 2017, losing away to Stade Français 22–12.

On 27 December 2017, Brunel was named as the new coach of the French national team after Guy Novès was sacked due to a series of poor results.

Brunel gained his first victory in round 3, defeating Italy at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille, the first time France had taken a home game away from Paris during the Championship, to retain the Giuseppe Garibaldi Trophy.