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In the end, Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal did not need kind-hearted volunteers with their own boots and transport to respond to his Twitter call to pad out his injury-ravaged side for last weekend’s Top 14 semi-final against La Rochelle.
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Instead, a patched-up bench featuring Matt Giteau and a 21-year-old making it on his first start for the club – and only the third of his career – were enough to edge Toulon past the French championship’s runaway regular-season leaders in the 81st minute of what was a weapons-grade war of attrition.
The late, late win sent the 2014 champions to their fifth final in six seasons.
But, with Welsh fullback Leigh Halfpenny – who nailed all five penalties in Marseille last weekend – now New Zealand-bound with the Lions, Boudjellal decided his remaining kickers needed a little extra kicking guidance ahead of this weekend’s showpiece final against Clermont at Paris’s Stade de France.
So he called Jonny Wilkinson. Or ‘Sir Jonny’ as he’s known in and around rugby-mad Toulon. Not surprising, really, after he guided them to three European crowns and the Top 14 title during his six years at the club. And it’s well known that Wilkinson has a soft spot for his old Stade Mayol crew.
He used to work with the club regularly, but has not been seen around the club’s Berg training ground for several months as he concentrated first on helping England and then the Lions’ bootmen.
But, now Farrell, Biggar, Halfpenny and Sexton have left on a jet plane he has agreed to answer Mourad’s call. He will work for two days this week with Marseille drop-goal hero Anthony Belleau, as well as the club’s other Halfpenny stand-ins Matt Giteau, James O’Connor and Eric Escande, according to local newspaper Var Matin.
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Boudjellal is not the only one to be concerned. Former French rugby star Cédric Heymans believes, with Halfpenny absent, Toulon lack kicking depth. Before coming on as a late replacement last weekend, Giteau had played no rugby since February. O’Connor and Escande can be wayward with the boot.
Heymans argues that Toulon need their penalty radar at close to 100% accuracy if they are to deny Clermont another Top 14 title. He’s probably right. Which means the arrival of the reliable boot of Jonathan Wisniewski from Grenoble cannot come quickly enough.
