'Dodged a bullet': Julian Savea hits back at Toulon fan following club president's cryptic comments
Former All Blacks star Julian Savea has hit back at suggestions linking him to cryptic comments made by Toulon president Bernard Lemaitre overnight.
Speaking at a press conference where 10 new players were unveiled by Toulon ahead of the 2021-22 season, Lemaitre is reported to have claimed that the club was in talks with a “very, very impressive player”.
However, he reportedly said Toulon weren’t able to sign the player, who he hinted was a second-five, because they were “influenced” away from the club by an “All Black colleague”.
“I can tell you regarding the centre three-quarter position that we were on the trail of a very, very impressive player,” Lemaitre said, according to blog-rct.com.
“I think we were in the nails given our proposal. But ultimately, not the player but undoubtedly his wife, preferred another city than that of Toulon as a living environment. It certainly influenced the player.
“I also believe that certain remarks made by one of his former All Black colleagues who left us, might have given us food for thought. This player went elsewhere. We regret it because we did an enormous job to try to get him to come.
“That said, we are still on a calibre as they say in the field, which is likely to be added to the workforce but also to bring added value in terms of quality, in particular at the number 12 position.”
While Lemaitre didn’t identify which player Toulon was reportedly in talks with, blog-rct.com claimed that Savea, who played for Toulon between 2018 and 2020, was “clearly” the “All Black colleague” that “derailed the recruitment” of the targeted player.
The French-based site also questioned whether the player on Lemaitre’s radar was departing All Blacks midfielder and Savea’s Hurricanes teammate Ngani Laumape, who will join Toulon’s Top 14 rivals Stade Francais next month.
Savea has since taken to Twitter to reject those claims, though, as he said that he “didn’t need to convince anyone to not sign” with Toulon as the club’s “reputation of how they treat players speaks highly of itself”.
I didn’t need to convince anyone not to sign with RCT. Their reputation of how they treat players speaks highly for itself without my help. https://t.co/EyynnATkr4
— Julian Savea (@juliansavea7) June 14, 2021
The 54-test international endured a tumultuous time during his two-year spell with Toulon, where he was the subject of a public fallout with former club president Mourad Boudjellal.
Boudjellal told French radio station RMC in February 2019 that Savea “wasn’t welcome at Toulon anymore” after he scored six tries from 22 appearances throughout his maiden campaign with the club.
“I’m going to ask for a DNA test. They must have swapped him on the plane. If I were him I would apologise and go back to my home country,” Boudjellal said at the time.
“I’ve told him that he was free to go and wasn’t welcome at Toulon anymore.”
Savea also copped criticism from Toulon fans after he left the team midway through the 2018-19 season to attend his brother Ardie’s wedding in Fiji, despite the trip being part of his deal with the club.
That led Savea’s wife, Fatima, to hit out at fans shortly after Boudjellal’s comments as she said she was “absolutely disgusted” while retweeting abuse directed at her husband, which included warnings that he would be spat on at Toulon’s next game, wishing cancer on his mother and labelling him “fatman”.
“Take a minute to think about how your words can affect someone’s life and their mental health,” Fatima Savea said in now-deleted tweets.
“And people wonder why mental health in rugby had become a big problem. Take a minute to be considerate of people’s feelings instead of bashing them behind a keyboard or phone screen.”
In the wake of his response to blog-rct.com‘s claims, Julian Savea said Laumape had “dodged a bullet” by not signing with Toulon as he retweeted a reply from a Toulon fan who labelled the 30-year-old as a “piece of s***”.
?? @NLaumape you dodged a bullet uce. https://t.co/WMzUy1Jpw8
— Julian Savea (@juliansavea7) June 14, 2021
Laumape then took to Twitter himself to explain that he and his wife opted to sign with Stade Francais as they “wanted to experience the Paris lifestyle” and that Savea had “said nothing but amazing things about Toulon”.
Julian said nothing but amazing things about toulon……..me and my partner just decided we wanted to experience the Paris lifestyle so pls no need for for this kind of hate ??
Have a blessed day everyone ?? https://t.co/NstdaIAhpQ— NGANI LAUMAPE (@NLaumape) June 14, 2021
Upon the completion of his two-year, $1.65m-per-season deal with Toulon, Savea returned to New Zealand last year to sign with the Wellington Lions in the NPC.
He went on to re-sign with the Hurricanes for the 2021 season, a campaign of which he made 11 appearances and scored five tries for the Wellington-based franchise.
Savea signed a two-year contract extension with the Hurricanes in April that will keep him at Sky Stadium until 2023.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Hard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
3 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
3 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to comments