[

RICHARD BATH

]

an openside debate

ALI WILLIAMS WAXED poetic last

month as his latest paymasters, Toulon,

out-muscled their compatriots Clermont

24-18 to win an unprecedented third

successive Heineken Cup.

The big man, who retires at the end of

the current Top 14 season, is going out on

a high if his man-of-the-match

performance in the Twickenham ﬁnal is

any guide. Williams reckoned it one of the

great achievements of his storied career.

“It was unbelievable - I just can’t

believe the courage of this Toulon side,”

gushed the 34-year-old former All Black.

“We haven’t been together for that long,

two or three years, but we play for each

other. It was an amazing occasion.

“There is a deep down desire within us

all not to let the opposition get on top and

I have so much respect for everyone in the

team. ‘Legends’ is a label people give you,

but what you want is that when you see

each other years later you have that deep

down realisation that you were part of

something special.”

Williams was right to give it laldy

because no club has achieved such a

hat-trick before, and the chances are

that no-one will do it again any time

soon, if ever.

But then the phalanx of seasoned and

commensurately highly-paid rugby

mercenaries who have been assembled

by comic book billionaire Mourad

Boudjellal in the Mediterranean port of

Toulon constitute quite a special team,

even after losing Jonny Wilkinson to

retirement last summer.

They might not have won pretty at any

stage this season, but then a side with

such big beasts up front hasn’t often

needed to resort to its sorcerers out wide

to grind its opponents into the dust.

Just look at the side that Toulon sent

out to do battle with Clermont: the

forward pack included Chris Masoe,

Juan Smith, Ali Williams, Bakkies Botha,

and was skippered by Carl Hayman,

while Pumas back row star Juan Martin

Fernandez Lobbe could only make the

bench. In the backs, Lions man of the

series Leigh Halfpenny and moving

French barndoor Mathieu Basteraud

were joined by Aussies Drew Mitchell and

Matt Giteau, Pumas centre Juan Martin

Hernandez and the Tri Nations’ record

try-scorer Bryan Habana.

But the one man who Kiwi audiences

may be less well-acquainted with is a

little-known ﬂanker called Steffon

Armitage. Short and squat, the openside-

cum-No 8 bears more resemblance to

props Gerard Cholley or Ollie Le Roux

than he does to a Richie McCaw or a

Chris Robshaw.

At just 5ft 9in (1.75m) tall and 16st 3lbs

(103kgs) he is virtually square. Yet while

he resembles a member of the Front Row

Union, he is deceptively mobile and with

his low centre of gravity and remarkable

strength is arguably harder to shift off the

ball than any other player in world rugby,

and is a punishing, direct ball-carrier.

Although he has only won ﬁve caps –

the last of them when he came off the

bench in February 2010 with seven

minutes to go as England led Italy by just

two points – few people are in any doubt

about his remarkable quality.

Indeed, he was named European Player

of the Year last season, and was one of the

favourites for the title again this year.

Such is his worth that English

premiership side Bath are widely

understood to have offered him £1m

a year to come and play for them last

season.

All of which begs the obvious question

– why isn’t Armitage in either the

England squad or team? They could

RICHARD BATH IS AN AWARD-WINNING WRITER BASED IN THE UK.

// NZ RUGBY WORLD // JUNE/JULY 2015

At just 5ft 9in (1.75m) tall and 16st 3lbs (103kgs) he is virtually

square. Yet while he resembles a member of the Front Row

Union, he is deceptively mobile and with his low centre of gravity and

remarkable strength is arguably harder to shift off the ball than any

other player in world rugby, and is a punishing, direct ball-carrier.’