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First Leigh Halfpenny... next Toulon President Mourad Boudjellal has Bryan Habana, Bakkies Botha and Juan Fernandez Lobbe in his sights.

The outspoken President of the money-laden French aristocrats, is demanding the immediate return from Test duty of Halfpenny’s Toulon team-mates or is threatening court action which could change the face of world rugby.

The star-studded trio are playing for their countries in the Rugby Championship, but Boudjellal is warning that unless they return to France by the end of the week he will stop paying their lucrative wages.

Lethal finisher Habana and lock enforcer Botha are away with South Africa and back-row star Lobbe is in camp with Argentina. The crack four-team southern hemisphere tournament does not finish until next month.

However, Boudjellal has reacted to the European and French champions’ 28-24 home defeat against Stade Francais and a club injury crisis by saying he pays the wages of Habana, Botha and Lobbe and he wants them playing for Toulon.

The Rugby Championship is sanctioned by the IRB, which means clubs have to release players who are selected by their countries.

But Boudjellal will challenge that policy and demand clubs only be forced to release players if the IRB or individual unions foot the bill for those away on international duty.

He challenged the IRB to a court fight in what would effectively be a test case and could yet have major repercussions for the WRU.

If Boudjellal gets his way in court, it could mean the WRU having to foot the bill for compensation for the release of overseas stars such as Jonathan Davies, Jamie Roberts, MIke Phillips, Dan Lydiate and Luke Charteris.

That could potentially result in a significant amount of the £2m the WRU are paying for the new dual contract system having to be diverted to fund compensation payments to clubs in France and probably England if Warren Gatland wanted to continue picking his exiles.

Boudjellal defended his hard-line stance by stating of Habana, Botha and Lobbe: “There is something that is quite simple – they defend the colours of their country and are paid rather comfortably by Toulon.

“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.”

Arguing French law usurped IRB regulations, he continued: “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 not play them. Moreover, I have to pay the players replacing them. This is a double sanction.”

The IRB doesn’t work a formal compensation system – it leaves it up to individual unions to take a stance on the thorny matter.

Aviva Premiership clubs, or example, are paid handsomely by the RFU for England squad members but do not receive anything for other nationalities.

That means they won’t release the likes of Wales and Lions hooker Richard Hibbard, who has joined Gloucester, for international matches played outside official IRB windows.

Only giant winger George North has a specific release clause for every Wales fixture in his contract. But it has come at a price for his club Northampton, who were clobbered with a hefty £60,000 fine by Premier Rugby for being in contravention of the league’s regulations by letting him to play for Wales against Australia last November in a match that took place outside the IRB’s the designated international window.

If Boudjellal carries out his threat to go to court and wins, it could have crippling ramifications for unions around the world and decimate countries like Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, who couldn’t afford to pay for the release of their overseas-based best players.

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