Toulon lock Ali Williams still the warrior in Dad's Army

In the 1985 film Cocoon, a group of elderly pensioners gain a second lease of life after stumbling upon an alien fountain of youth near to their retirement home – which could easily double for the plot of Toulon’s recent success.

There is nothing to suggest that the water off the Côte d’Azur contains any extraterrestrial elixir, but its rejuvenating effect on an array of rugby pensioners assembled at great expense by Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal is undeniable.

Even with considerable reputations, many of their recruits arrived beaten up, broken and written off in their homelands.

Jon…