After making history and becoming the first side to win three successive European Cups, is there any stopping Toulon from winning the next three. Toulon have come a long way from a struggling side in the ProD2 to the best club in Europe. Some may say they have are not deserving of all of their success because of the huge amounts of money being spent on players but their president Mourad Boudjellal won’t mind too much as he looks to enjoy further success with his hometown club.
With other clubs not being able to spend anywhere near the same amount of money as Toulon, they are relying on one of two signings each season and the development of young players already in their ranks. As for Toulon they are able to attract the best players in the world and offer them huge wages to bring them to France. If clubs are going to compete with Toulon there will have to be some changes made to the salary cap.
With no signs of changes to the salary cap, Toulon will look to dominate club Rugby for the next few years and they have showed their intentions for dominating next seasons competition with the signings of Ma’a Nonu and Quade Cooper, who will improve their side even more.
Toulon’s success will now bring more rivals with other clubs looking to invest more money into their squads. Newly promoted Pau have showed their intentions after the confirmed signings of Conrad Smith and Colin Slade while Racing Metro have splashed the cash to bring Dan Carter to Paris next season in a lucrative deal. Clubs from Britain and Ireland have resisted the temptation to spend huge amounts of money on world class players but with the French clubs continuing to spend how long will it be before they join in on bidding wars for the best players.
There will be clubs looking to dethrone Toulon in next years Champions Cup but at this early stage they are odds on favourites to make it four successive European titles. Money doesn’t always buy you success but in Toulon’s case it does. The only way of getting the better of Toulon might be to do what they do best and sign the best players. A lot of clubs believe in the development of players rather than spending huge amounts of money on players wages but the way Rugby is run at the moment spending money could be the only way to achieve success.
