Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Bakkies Botha hits out at Toulon for hitting rock bottom in France

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)

Legendary Springboks second-rower Bakkies Botha has taken to Twitter to mourn the weekend Top 14 result that has left Toulon – the club with whom he won three successive Champions Cup tournaments and a French league title – bottom of the table and battling relegation. 

ADVERTISEMENT

It was 2015 when the great Toulon team developed by Bernard Laporte had its final day in the sun, defeating Clermont in an all-French European final at Twickenham, but they have been on a gradual slide since then and they are now playing catch-up in the top flight in France.

Toulon is a club that still attracts star players – just look at the recent signing of Cheslin Kolbe from Toulouse, last season’s double winners. However, collectively there is something not quite right at the club and Saturday’s home defeat to Castres was their second setback inside six days and it left them bringing up the rear in France. 

Video Spacer

ASX Sports Fantasy Rugby | A new generation of fantasy rugby is here with apps for iOS and Android!

Video Spacer

ASX Sports Fantasy Rugby | A new generation of fantasy rugby is here with apps for iOS and Android!

Although a point behind 13th-place Biarritz, who are in the other relegation spot, and four points shy of twelfth-place Brive and safety, there should be no panic at Stade Mayol as Toulon have three games on hand on Biarritz and two in hand on Brive. 

However, the fact that the once all-conquering Toulon are at the bottom has caused consternation, with the legendary Botha among those irked by his former club’s plight after they lost 22-10 at home to Castres the weekend after they were beaten 26-24 at Stade Francais.

“Some of the highest-paid players in the world and this is the result,” grieved Botha on Twitter. “Feeling sorry for RCT supporters. ‘Maybe money has become more important than rugby’. If Mourad was still at RCT. It will be war at the club on a Sunday morning. ‘Responsibility and character’.” 

It was December 2019 when Mourad Boudjellal, the deep-pockets architect of Toulon’s halcyon days, sold his controlling share at the club to Bernard Lemaitre but they continue to struggle for consistency on the pitch and their current plight won’t get any easier next weekend as they are set to entertain league leaders Bordeaux on Saturday night.   

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

W
Werner 2 hours ago
Everyone knows the Springboks' ranking was puffed up

I can't talk to rassies video ahead of the series as there was next to no coverage available locally for me. On the pool match again I think this is taking rassies words to hold more power than they do. If anyone else had said that about Scotland, Ireland would have brushed it aside. I mean he was asked point blank by the journos his thoughts and I mean what would be the right answer to give? He could have down played it and if Ireland lost would be have a similar argument. But truth is that was one of the best Scottish teams to be out to a RWC in recent memory and I would agree that they shouldn't have been taken lightly.


Problem is not the talent coming through in Ireland it's how and when they are getting their experience in tier 1 rugby. problem with the current system is it doesn't allow for any mentoring by the 1st team or opportunity to adapt to the higher pace and pressure. There's a big difference between playing in an emerging Ireland tour and being dropped in a must win six nations game. Need to find the balance of introducing young players to key games and keeping experience and cool heads on the field to guide and mentor them. URC has definitely stepped up recently but does also create an additional layer of "us vs them" mentality with the provinces, so building combinations gets tricky if not done right and can lead to over indexing in selection of one province rather than the best player

247 Go to comments
TRENDING
TRENDING Scott Robertson on how he will handle Damian McKenzie after the flick pass Scott Robertson on Damian McKenzie
Search