The foreign legion, led by five South Africans, were crowned rugby kings of Europe yesterday as French club Toulon thumped England’s Saracens 23-6. The five – try scorer Juan Smith (ex-Free State – see video below) fellow forwards Craig Burden (Sharks), Bakkie Botha (Bulls) and Danie Rossouw (Bulls) and flying wing Bryan Habana (Stormers) – celebrated victory in a game that was as one-sided as the score suggested. Only three French players were in Toulon’s starting 15. Apart from the one third South African contingent, the others are from England (3), Australia (2) and Argentina.
Such is the South African influence in European rugby nowadays that the country also produced two players – hooker Schalk Britz (ex Stormers) and lock Alistair Hargreaves (Sharks) – in the mainly English Saracens lineup, which included Durban-born former Sharks player Brad Barritt. The match, played at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium is the last of the 19 Heineken Cup finals and is the second successive victory for Toulon. The club is looking to end the year  on a high next week when they play Castres in the French final. That will be the last game for Toulon’s 35 year old flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson whose drop goal won the Rugby World Cup for England in 2003.
Postscript………
FROM DAVID MELVILL:
Good coverage this for SA Alec, well done.
It may be of interest to you that my brother, Eric (right), in the mid 80’s played for Toulon. He was the first South Africa to have played there. He helped them win the French Cup in two of the many seasons that he played there.
