Apparently, life at Toulon isn’t all rainbows, sunshine and million € contracts. Not only is Mourad Boudjellal threatening to tear up Leigh Halfpenny’s contract because the Welsh goal-kicking replacement for Johnny Wilkinson dared to sustain an injury.

Now, Boudjellal has threatened legal action over stars still on international duty in The Rugby Championship if they don’t return to Toulon to take part in this weekend’s Top14 competition.

Boudjellal is threatening Argentine star Juan Martin Fernández Lobbe and Springboks Bryan Habana and Bakkies Botha if they don’t return to play Brive this weekend.

According to ESPN, Boudjellal has threatened to not pay his stars if they refuse to return and has also issued an ultimatum, even threatening court action in France.

All three stars are with their respective squads preparing for the matches next weekend with Argentina set to host the All Blacks and the Springboks ready to host the Wallabies. But Boudjellal believes he has rights to his players this weekend and is prepared to take them to court.

“There is something that is quite simple – they defend the colours of their country and are paid rather comfortably by Toulon,” Boudjellal told French media. “The IRB decided the rules. That’s fine but I’m not here to fund South African and Argentine rugby and I will not.

“These players will return as we need them. If they do not and we receive no fee, they will not be paid by us because they will not be present in Toulon. We’ll see if the rules of the IRB prevail or if it is the rules of the Labour Code for French private enterprise. In any case, it is an aberration.

“We have reached a stage where we have to ask the opinion of the French law. Therefore, we will ask the French judges whether a foreign federation has the right to take my employees and force me to pay them. It’s just unthinkable we have players who are paid very well by us but cannot play them. Moreover, I have to pay the players replacing them. This is a double sanction.”

This power-mad behaviour on threatening legal action over Halfpenny, and the three southern hemisphere stars is a carry-on from Boudjellal – not so subtle threat to the Queensland Reds over star recruit James O’Connor.

The Reds believe they have signed O’Connor on a two-year contract, but the Toulon boss was having non of that, saying that his star utility back would return to France once the Rugby World Cup was complete.

“We always said James O’Connor had signed for three years at Toulon with a possible six months absence during the season to be able to play in the World Cup … so we respect what has been signed … He is committed for two years after the Cup,” Boudjellal told Radio Monte Carlo.

And what should be a worry for the Reds, is that Boudjellal doesn’t like to be told “no”.

However, there is one thing the billionaire is planning that the rugby world is looking forward to. A potential match-up between the Heineken Cup champions and the Super Rugby champions.

While this match has been planned in the past, and has fallen through for various reasons, out of all previous attempts, this is more likely than ever before to go ahead because of the precarious financial situation the ARU has found themselves in, in recent years. 

That would be a mouth-watering match-up that will be talked about for years to come, however, the banter is bound to surround who’s match-fit and who’s in the middle of pre-season.

Editorial note
Boudjellal may have made his fortune in comic books, but it doesn’t mean he needs to behave like a comic book character.

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