French heart beats loudly at Toulon ahead of Leinster clash

Mourad Boudjellal is not a man to shy away from a fight and the Toulon president was in characteristically combative mood last week. 

His target was a gentleman called Pierre Salviac, a former rugby commentator on French television, who posted a critical message on twitter about Toulon. It was nothing new, Salviac trotting out the line about the European champions doing little to develop young French players.

Boudjellal went ballistic. “He should think before speaks,” retorted the president. “Because at Clermont, we fielded a front row that was 100% a product of our youth academy without forgetting [Konstantin] Mikautadze, [Eric] Escande et [Josua] Tuisova, nor that 75% of the youngsters on the bench had come through the academy ranks.”