Following Toulon’s 19-10 loss to Agen yesterday their club president Mourad Boudjellal has struck out at his players especially Julian Savea.
#SUARCT pic.twitter.com/GIGRZmq8dw
— RCT – RC Toulon (@RCTofficiel) February 16, 2025
Boudjellal has been unimpressed by his sides performances this season as they currently sit 11th in the Top 14 table with only six wins from 16 games and he did not hold back his anger when speaking about Savea in particular.
“I’m going to ask for a DNA test. It is not Savea that we recruited but ‘Savéapas’,”
he said to French publication RMC Sport.
“I am going to ask for a DNA test,” “Saveaapas not recruited but Savéapas, who had to change him on the plane. I would apologize and I would go home and when you get to that level of play, you have to apologize and leave, maybe it’s just a matter of self-esteem. Is it me who feeds my family or is it the club? “
Savea who left the Hurracaines in native New Zealand for the French giants last year has struggled to live up to his expectations following an international career in which he scored 46 tries in only 54 matches.
Even though he has played out of position
in the centre rather than on the wing Boudjellal has banished him from the club
from what has been gathered.
“I told him he was released, and he was no longer welcome at Toulon! He has got a year left on his contract. He can do what he wants. A year can be long for the club but especially for the player… for me he is released,” he continued.
The remarkable attack on one of the greatest
wingers the world has ever seen wasn’t the end of his comments either.
“This Toulon team has done a lot of bad to the club. And if the players put in as much effort on the pitch as they do in negotiating their contracts, we would be champions of Europe!” he added when speaking of the team as a whole.
Boudjellal also lashed out at young fly-half
Anthony Belleau.
“He caught the virus of the French team. They do not know how to play anymore, and I understand why he is not a member of the French team given his current level …” he also stated.
The president also warned the remainder of
the team that unless they perform, they will face a similar fate to that of
Savea.
“Some players are average because they want to leave and others because they have a cheque to take, and they cannot find a better cheque elsewhere. Many will be released,” he said.
In the final words of his incredible attack
at the team was that he told them that he is likely not to go to their games
until the end of the season as he has other preferences.
“We are not sure to see me at the stadium by the end of the season, I prefer to go to the Cirque Pinder!” he said.
With regards to Savea it appears as though he will be replaced by fellow All Black Nehe Milner-Skudder, who agreed a three-year contract with Toulon in December. He will join up with the team in June, but where Savea will go remains to be seen.
He may return to New Zealand, much like Ma’a Nonu if possible, to try and recreate the form that saw him reach such amazing heights before his move abroad.
However, it was reported that Toulon were
looking at the possibility of gaining Dan Carter’s services until the end of
the season, but it was confirmed today that he will return to former club
Racing 92.
The club are in a situation now where they
face the possibility of not only having a bad season but poor ones to follow as
most player’s will be put off signing for them after seeing the treatment Boudjellal
has shown his current crop of stars.
