Boudjellal stokes fire with another jibe at Munster

MUNSTER are unlikely to be on the Christmas card list of Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal if his latest comments about the Irish province are anything to go by.

With a little under three weeks to go before Munster’s crucial Heineken Cup encounter with the French side at Stade Mayol, Boudjellal has added yet more fuel to the fire by suggesting that the culture at the province to be inward looking and narrow minded.

“Munster are in a culture closed in on itself,” he told French website Rugby365, before bizarrely using the post match reception between the two sides in Thomond Park last October as an example.

“Take the reception after the match. The beer was free but you had to pay for the wine.

“They don’t know the culture of others. At Toulon, the beer will be free because we recognise everybody’s culture.

“I found that side of them a bit outrageous. In their mind, everyone drinks beer, a kind of ‘what happens here happens everywhere else.”

Boudjellal’s comments come just days after another outburst, when he intimated that Munster was being funded by the IMF.

As one of the most outspoken men in French rugby, the Toulon boss is said to have been deeply offended by comments allegedly made by some Munster players in the build-up to the sides’ first clash in October.

Curiously, the multimillionaire comic book owner, who bankrolled names such as Tana Umaga, Victor Matfield and Sonny Bill Williams in his first few seasons at Toulon, claimed that the ‘mercenary’ jibes were false as the salaries at Munster were higher.

However Boudjellal reiterated that he had huge respect for Munster supporters and that they would be made most welcome in the city on the 16th of January.

“I have a great respect for Munster and the Irish public. I found the silence (at Thomond Park) during penalties to be very classy.

“But I found some of the comments by some of the players to be completely misplaced given that I know the salary levels and that they pay much higher than us.”

“What we want to show Munster is that we’ll be happy to have them (at Stade Mayol).

“We’ll try everything to make sure it’s a big party.”