BEFORE THEIR QUARTER-FINAL against Leinster three weeks ago the Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal proclaimed “we want to confirm there are no European champions by chance and we are able to dominate European rugby.” It’s apt that he used the term “chance,” because as things stand the dice are loaded firmly in his favour.

Boudjellal was initially perceived as an eccentric, a wealthy superfan, but now his little project in the south of France is the canary in the mine, and possibly a window into the future should the sport continue on its current course.

The template Toulon have set is to ignore the academy system, to ignore home grown talent, to buy fully formed stars from the southern hemisphere, and, invariably, to buy the biggest man available. If they win a second European title in a row then it is a template others will soon follow.

By ignoring French players they are benefitting hugely from the losses suffered by other sides during the international window. If every team was to follow suit, the Heineken Cup (Champions Cup) would be full of New Zealanders and South Africans, and the Six Nations would be populated by fringe players who can’t make their club side.

Similarly, if every owner or CEO opts for the Boudjellal gameplan of picking gigantic men to run repeatedly at smaller defenders, then every game will end up looking like the dross on offer in the Top 14.

Source: INPHO/Billy Stickland

The reason rugby is a good sport to watch is because a coach and his squad are forced to find the right blend to beat the opposition. They must decide how many players to send into every ruck, how many to filter into the defensive line, whether to pick a running or a kicking outhalf, how much time to spend practicing backline moves, or defensive mauls, or tackle technique.

They must also find the right mix of physiques. If a player is too heavy he won’t last the full 80 minutes; if he is too tall he won’t be agile enough; if he is extra quick he likely won’t be much use in a maul. There are lots of variables to choose from, and seeing how they play out on the field is what makes it interesting.

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Boudjellal and his head coach Bernard Laporte have taken one idea and applied it to the Nth degree, in effect by-passing all the variables other coaches have to make. It has taken them to a Top 14 title and a European Cup, and they could do the double this season. That seems undue reward for men that always pick the low hanging fruit.

Whether you disagree or agree with what Rob Penney has tried to do at Munster, he at least has attempted something new, something that attempts to deal with Munster’s relative lack of bulk, and, crucially, has done it all without spending much money.

Source: James Crombiee/INPHO

At the moment there are reasons to like rugby and reasons to hate it, but at least culturally, it has a point of difference. Yes, Toulon are passionate and focused and hard working and have a great fan base, but if the sport goes completely down the ‘money buys success’ route then it just becomes a less entertaining form of football.

Football is bigger than every other European sport put together. It is in its own seperate category. It thrives because of the excess and the side shows and the egos. Rugby will never compete on those terms.

In football, too, it at least takes proper petrodollar billionaires to buy a bit of success. Whatever their morals, they’ve shown some aptitude to get to where they are. To win big titles in club rugby, relative to other pro sports, doesn’t even require a huge amount of cash. That means in the future there will be a plethora of half-assed businessmen buzzing around, offering uninformed opinions on how the game needs to further monetise itself.

Mourad Boudjellal, thanks to the English clubs and BT and a supine IRB, now has a huge say over the future of the European game. Rugby isn’t robust enough to survive 10 years of Toulon domination. The IRB need to change the rules… or find better millionaires.