Not always greener across the Channel
French rugby is a world all of its own, and sometimes you have to blink and wonder, did that really just happen?
When those moments come, very often Toulon’s colourful owner, Mourad Bouujellal is at the heart of things. His hyper-expensive Toulon team are languishing towards the foot of the Top 14, finished third in their Champions Cup pool, and look a shadow of the side that lit the competition up by becoming champions three years on the trot between 2013 and 2015.
Have a look at their current squad of 45 top-class players and the first thing that comes to mind is that they’re not doing anything on the cheap! The likes of Mathieu Bastareaud, Francois Trinh-Duc, Rhys Webb, Liam Messam, and of course, Julian Savea, give just a hint of Toulon’s depth of talent, but it was Savea who was singled out for Boudjellal’s wrath last week. Toulon lost away at fellow strugglers Agen, and it seemed to tip the club’s owner over the edge.
First, Boudjellal broke with convention in singling out an individual player for his criticism – far better and more normal for a conversation to take place between owner and head coach, and leave the latter to deal with the problem. However, Boudjellal has plenty of ‘previous’ on this, and he isn’t the type to duck a confrontation when he feels it’s needed – depending on your point of view, you might respect his passion for his team, or you might think he has lost the plot. It can’t be easy to see the millions you’ve spent seemingly going to waste.
However, was hiring Savea a smart bit of business by Toulon? In his pomp the All Black winger was a force of nature, but the evidence was there for all to see that maybe he was just past his best. Seemingly no-one told Toulon that, so it’s little wonder Mourad feels he’s not getting value for money.
Boudjellal came back for a second go a few days later, this time questioning Savea’s attitude, fitness, and ‘very demanding’ behaviour!
Having vented his frustrations on Savea, the owner then turned his attention to Rhys Webb, who is also perceived not to have delivered what was expected. Poor old Webb has seen his wife and kids move back to Wales because they were struggling to settle in France, so I doubt he was feeling on top of the world. His club’s owner claimed that his CV was being touted round the Welsh regions, and he wouldn’t stand in his way if he wanted to go.
The problem is that Boudjellal seems to fall into the all mouth and trousers school of ownership. Toulon’s head coach, Patrice Collazo, subsequently declared the Savea situation to be ‘a fake problem’, which smacked of the owner’s bark being considered to be much worse than his bite.
However, Boudjellal’s outbursts will have given players and their agents food for thought, with the usual flurry of big-money transfers likely after the RWC. Beauden Barrett is expected to head north, but he came out and said that the Savea situation was a factor he’d take into account if Toulon came calling – which on past experience seemed very possible.
Rumours abound that Manu Tuilagi might fancy a few years in France with Racing 92, but for him, and any player considering such a move, the Savea situation shows that the grass is not always greener across the Channel. I hope that Tuilagi decides to stay with Leicester. The support he has received from the club during his many rehab’s has been exemplary, and it would be good to see old-fashioned loyalty being repaid.
With everything that’s going on in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s easy to have missed the start of the Super Rugby season last week.
Round One was predominantly in-country games, with only the Argentinian and Japanese franchises’ opponents clocking up the air miles, although the number of long-haul flights stepped up markedly this weekend. It’s been a low key start, but there is plenty of controversy bubbling under the surface in the increasingly troubled world of Super Rugby.
It’s hard to know where to start with Super Rugby’s problems, but if there is one issue that illustrates the ‘secondclass citizen’ attitude of the NZRU towards it, it’s the furore surrounding how much cotton wool the All Black players need to be wrapped in.
The coaches of the New Zealand franchises have had a number of demands put on them, including not playing them in pre-season games, easing them into the first three rounds, not playing them for more than five consecutive games and giving them two games off during the season.
You can understand where Steve Hansen is coming from, but it sends a clear message to fans: Super Rugby doesn’t really matter.
“I hope Tuilagi decides to stay... it would be good to see old-fashioned loyalty repaid”