Top 14
Boudjellal dismisses foreign player 'bullshit'
ESPN Staff
June 30, 2014
Mourad Boudjellal celebrates Toulon's Heineken Cup win in May © Getty Images
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Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal has dismissed suggestions there are too many foreign players in French domestic rugby as "bullshit".

In the aftermath of France's 3-0 Test drubbing in Australia, coach Phillipe Saint-Andre said the numbers of foreign players in the Top 14 was affecting the national side and reducing the pool of available talent. But Boudjellal, who has spent heavily to build his club into the best in Europe, was having none of it.

Foreign players in Top 14

  • South Africans - 51

    New Zealanders - 31

    GB & Irish - 29

    Fijian - 20

    Australian -17

    Samoan - 16

    Tongan - 12

    Argentinian - 11

    Georgian - 11

    Others - 22

"Why are French players good when they play against the best in the Top 14 and why do they play three levels below that when they are in the French team?

"When players in the French side have no game plan, it is not because there are too many foreigners in the Top 14. You have to look at the facts. There are no more foreigners than there were three years ago. But what has changed in three years? Coaches. And I think the results are the consequence of what has changed. When you play three games and lose, that is not the fault of foreigners"

Saint-Andre might have been coach at Toulon between 2009 and 2011, but that did not spare him criticism from Boudjellal.

"The staff [with the national side] had better look closer to home rather than blame the Top 14. It's unbearable to hear adults blame others. We must ask the right questions. If they think the losses are not their responsibility, that they have become irresponsible. If that's the case, they must go."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd

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