Former All Black Liam Messam is keeping the faith with Toulon
Liam Messam is keeping the faith that a greenish Toulon side can haul itself up the French Top 14 standings while he adjusts to the style and sheer grind of rugby in the Hexagon.
The 34-year-old former All Blacks loose forward has shown solid form, mostly at No 8, as Toulon has sputtered to 12th on the log, with just three wins, not to mention a winless opening two rounds of the European Champions Cup.
“It’s a long season. The final is on June 15. People see the results and the table, but we’ve competed hard in all our games and given ourselves opportunities to win. We just have to take them. That’s an experience thing,” says Messam.
“We are not too far away from the top six. We just have to grind away, trust the process and work hard every day. It’s a new, young team. Toulon has a proud history but lost 12-14 players from last season and the core of those were older players. So we are starting afresh.”
Toulon is clearly not the ‘Galacticos’ of Tana Umaga’s days at Toulon, when the club was seeking to burst out of the second tier.
This weekend’s away match at Bordeaux looms as hugely important, then, for RCT. Messam may come up against his old Chiefs teammate, three-quarter Seta Tamanivalu. Other Kiwis at Toulon are Malakai Fekitoa, Julian Savea and Brian Alainu’uese.
Messam has enjoyed the tutelage of his old Argentine 15s and sevens adversary Juan-Martin Fernandez-Lobbe, now one of Toulon’s assistant coaches.
“He’s been awesome. I’ve known Juan for a long time, since back in 2003-04. He’s a legend here and his philosophy allows us to bring that flair into our game.”
While the French season is a grind, there is scope for breaks. He nipped home at the start of the international window, finding time to visit the grave of a fallen comrade, Sione Lauaki.
There was also another brief, albeit unwanted, holiday. Messam was red carded for a high tackle against Montpellier last month. Handed a four-week suspension, it was reduced on appeal.
“I can understand what they are trying to do in France because at the start of the season a player (Louis Fajfrowski of Aurillac) died after a head-high tackle. They are coming down hard on that. We are all about player welfare, but contact to the head is a really touchy subject here,” says Messam.
The tackle looks bad at first glance but the first contact was with the shoulders, then slipping up. Ironically, fellow Kiwis Jerome Kaino and Loni Uhila also copped short bans for dangerous tackles around the same time.
Toulon owner, the flamboyant Mourad Boudjellal, went into bat for Messam, helping reduce his ban. That is the sort of loyalty he seeks to repay.
“Everyone has a view on Mourad, but he’s been fantastic to work with this season. He cares deeply about RCT. He’s given Patrice (Collazo) the green light to get this team going,” says Messam of a man not averse to telling players to their face what he thinks of their form.
While Messam is far from fluent in French after just four months, he is loving the whole scene, from the food with which he needs to be circumspect, to the warm weather, to the rugby folk. There are worse places to live in this world.
“The people of Toulon are amazing. It’s a mad rugby town, I thought Waikato Stadium was an awesome place to play when full, but this is next level. No matter how well, or not, we are going, the support is always there. They chant for the full 80 minutes.”
In 2016, some may have thought Messam was running on old legs. He was trying to give the Rio Olympics a nudge, but his body was not responding. It says plenty about the mana that he brings to his rugby that he uncorked a superb season for the Chiefs in 2018, one of his best in several years. It was important for him to finish his long New Zealand career on a personal high.
And while former All Blacks hooker Anton Oliver struggled to connect with the Toulon jersey in his short 2007-08 stint, Messam is determined to leave his mark in the south of France.
“The standards I set for myself, I take wherever I go. RCT will probably be the last club I play for, so I will pour all my energy into helping them succeed and building a culture they can be proud of.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments