Toulon head to Thomond 'to learn'

RUGBY HEINEKEN CUP:TOULON COACH Philippe Saint-André yesterday confirmed that Felipe Contepomi will be in the starting line-up and Jonny Wilkinson amongst the replacements in a number of changes from the team which beat the Ospreys last week.

The presence of Contepomi, and what might euphemistically be called his rapport with Ronan O’Gara et al and the Munster crowd, ought to be worth the admission money alone, while the possibility of Wilkinson appearing off the bench will also add a frisson of excitement to the occasion.

Saint-André will name his line-up today but further changes which the former French international winger indicated will see Rory Lamont rested at fullback, to be replaced by the 19-year-old Clement Magnaval. The experienced, 33-year-old former French scrumhalf Pierre Mignoni will return, while, as expected, the expensively-acquired All Blacks’ tighthead Carl Hayman will also start, amid a feeling that the more strictly-policed scrummaging in Europe (whereas in France referees allow a certain latitude to the old tricks of the trade) will be to his liking.

The warrior Pumas’ captain, Juan Fernandez Lobbe, will also be rested, although the backrow is still expected to feature their talismanic South African flanker and captain Joe van Niekerk, multi-capped Wallabies flanker George Smith and Joe El-Abd.

Ultimately, it will not be a strong Toulon team, if not Saint-André’s strongest, because in one of those curious quirks of the Top-14 fixture list, Toulon must play Stade Francais, Toulouse and Perpignan away on the next three weekends.

But if there’s an element of fear and apprehension within Munster as they face into another of their do-or-die, must-win Heineken Cup missions, then it would appear the same is true for Toulon. They may possess one of the most expensively-assembled club squads in the game, full of stellar names, but this is their debut in Europe’s premier competition against a team with the richest of pedigrees, in a venue where Munster have won 36 of their previous 37 ties.

“We are going to Thomond Park to learn,” commented Saint-André yesterday. “I’m sure the Munster guys will be angry. They play in front of their own fans, the stadium will be full and they have a lot to prove.

“People say that Munster are on the decline, but I don’t believe that. I remember hearing the same twice when I went there with Sale and twice I took 40 points,” he noted ironically, in reference to the 31-9 and 37-14 defeats at Munster’s Limerick fortress five and two seasons ago.

“I know how they are going to play, they will try to intimidate us, the crowd will put pressure on the referee so we will have to be at the top of our game if we are to manage to get something from this trip.”

Toulon showed last season how they could rotate their squad and continue to compete both domestically and in Europe, finishing second in the Top 14 before being beaten in extra-time of the French Championship semi-finals by Clermont Auvergne last season and then in the final of the Amlin Challenge Cup by Cardiff Blues.

There are 20 internationals in the squad, from 16 different nationalities, but Saint-André, who changed the star culture at the club under Tana Umaga, admitted: “It is a team with individual maturity, not as a group.”

It’s a valid point and draws comparisons with the other nouveau-riche French Top 14, Racing Metro.

French champions in 1931 and ’87, Toulon won their most recent and third Bouclier de Brennus in 1992, against Biarritz Olympique, in what was memorably Serge Blanco’s last match and last chance to win the title.

A working-class naval base town in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, which is reckoned to have the most passionate supporters in French club rugby, historically their teams were expected to meet fire with fire and there are some choice excerpts from the days in the early ’90s when Eric Champ, not exactly one of the game’s shrinking violets, led them into the fray. (Check out the “Historic Combat” between Toulon Begles in 1991 on YouTube!). They since fell on hard times, a la Racing, before returning to the top flight two seasons ago thanks, first and foremost, to their millionaire president Mourad Boudjellal, the so-called Roman Abramovich of French club rugby, who was born and bred in Toulon of Moroccan extraction, and who made his fortune in the comic-strip business.

Toulon are notionally credited with having the fourth highest budget in the Top 14, with €19 million but it is widely assumed that some of the big-name signings, notably Umaga, were paid for out of his own pocket.

Thus, having bankrolled their promotion from the ProD2 two seasons ago, on foot of the summer departure of Sonny Bill Williams to New Zealand, Boudjellal brought in the likes of Smith and Hayman, while this week he has been negotiating with Wilkinson’s father over a new deal.

Toulon started the season poorly, losing their first two home games at their Stade Felix-Mayol hotbed, but have won their last five games in succession. Having perhaps sought to broaden their brush strokes a little, as well as blooding new arrivals, they have since reverted more to the game that took the Top 14 by storm last season.

Wilkinson, darling of Toulon supporters and French media after learning the language and behaving with his customary professionalism on and off the pitch, has scored 143 of their 221 points to date this season, including a ridiculous nine drop goals in nine domestic matches. No wonder Boudjellal wants to keep him, and Wilkinson wants to stay.