Money not the sole cause of Toulon success

Come Sunday the veins under Cedric Abellon’s war paint will be throbbing.

The Scarlets players will find no escape from his abrasive ‘Pilou-Pilou’ chant and Toulon will be primed to carve up Europe as they go in search of three-in-a-row.

In French rugby, money talks as loudly as Abellon’s war cry. The 35-year-old tattoo artist from Toulon has held the microphone before kick-off for around six years now and his eye-popping character is a perfect foil for Toulon’s owner Mourad Boudjellal — the man who made his money from comic books.