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Julian Savea provides update on his situation at Toulon after rocky year

By Online Editors
Julian Savea at training. (Photo by Elias Rodriguez/Getty Images)

Former All Blacks wing Julian Savea has come to the final weekend of his first season at Toulon under eccentric owner Mourad Boudjellal, and is ready to move upward and onward at the French club.

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The 27-year-old reached out to his Twitter ahead of the last game of the season, proclaiming that next year Toulon fans will hopefully see the team in the finals. Savea responded to a fan confirming we will stay, saying that ‘leaving was never an option for me’ after becoming embroiled in public criticism by club owner and coach alike during the season.

Boudjellal’s rants over Savea included asking for a DNA test before stating the winger was no longer at the club. RCT president Patrice Collazo mirrored the owner’s sentiment in publicly stating he had nine games left to prove his worth, pressuring Savea with an ultimatum.

Toulon’s owner has since admitted recently that he may have been “too harsh” with his commentary on All Black star signing Julian Savea during this season, with the size of Savea’s deal leaving Boudjellal unhappy with the performances in return.

“At one point, it was him or me! Quit paying someone as much … especially at that rate,” he told Mid Olympique.

Toulon will finish in their worst ever position since being promoted into the Top 14 and will miss out on Champions Cup action next year after failing to get out of the pool stages for the first time. Boudjellal is motivated to turn the club around, splashing out on more marquee recruitments like Eben Etzebeth, Nehe Milner-Skudder and Baptiste Serin for next year.

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Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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