RC Toulon tough Investec Champions Cup path can be making of new Galacticos
Dynasties rise and fall in sport, often taking years to reach their summit before fading into the darkness at pace. Between 2013 and 2015, RC Toulon were the “it” team. Probably the best club rugby team in the world.
They won a Top 14 title in 2014 and were European champions three years in a row in 2013, 2014 and 2015 – beating Clermont twice and Saracens once across Dublin’s Aviva Stadium, Cardiff’s Principality Stadium and London’s Twickenham.
Their so-called galacticos featured the likes of Bryan Habana, Matt Giteau, Steffon Armitage, Bakkies Botha, Frederic Michalak, Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe and Jonny Wilkinson.
Those days are gone, and since 2015 they’ve won nothing besides an EPCR Challenge Cup in 2023.
But festering in the rugby hotbed of the Stade Mayol, in the famous French naval base town, RC Toulon are building again.
They’ve swapped out their World Cup winners for workhorse domestic and overseas stars including England’s David Ribbans and Lewis Ludlam as well as Wales’s Dan Biggar and France’s Melvyn Jaminet.
Hey big spender
They’re still big spenders, but they’re a team for the future rather than the short-term. And I have been really impressed with how they’ve gone about this competition, and in doing so they’ve earned a home quarter-final against tournament favourites Toulouse.
Their fellow Top 14 side have seemed unstoppable throughout this competition but Sale Sharks gave them a scare last week. Toulon, on the other hand, were unbeaten in the pool stages and put 72 points on Saracens in the last 16.
The Stade Mayol is a bastion of rugby, a true heartland. Its pre-match Pilou Pilou chant gets the fans in full voice in what often is a mightily hostile place to go and attempt to win.
Toulon are within touching distance of the summit of the Top 14, seven points behind Toulouse and two behind Bordeaux Begles, and are back to challenging on a European front too.
Toulon charm
They are testament to each of the two ways of going far in the Champions Cup – buy the best and dominate, or develop a cultured team who’ll stick together for a decade. This could be the beginning of a second Toulon dynasty in European rugby.
It would be sensational for the home team to topple Toulouse, but in front of their baying crowd anything is possible. The reward would be an away tie at Bordeaux, or a “home” tie against Munster in Lyon.
Then, probably a meeting with Leinster at the final in Cardiff. To win a fourth title, on the 10-year anniversary of their last one, they’ll need to do it the hard way, but having Toulon back at the summit of European rugby is exciting and reminds other clubs that success comes and goes – but that it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s gone forever.
Toulon’s tie with Toulouse is the pick of the quarter-final ties, but with Northampton Saints hosting Castres, Leinster facing Glasgow Warriors and Bordeaux taking on Munster on the Atlantic coast we’re in for a super weekend.
Former England Sevens captain Ollie Phillips is the founder of Optimist Performance. Follow Ollie @OlliePhillips11