Big-spending Toulon still have a place in Gregan's heart

Cardiff Blues have said that stopping Toulon's Jonny Wilkinson will be the key to success in today's Amlin Challenge Cup final. Wilkinson, the England fly-half, may be the French club's leading light, but he hardly sits on his own in the business class seats. Toulon have been called the Harlem Globetrotters of French rugby, due to their policy of signing the most recognisable household name players, whatever the price.

The wages on offer in the south of France are enviable, but while the largesse of Mourad Boudjellal, the Toulon president who made his fortune from selling comic books, may be able to buy success, it cannot buy a soul, according to the club's critics. Not so, according to George Gregan, the former Wallaby scrum-half who is international rugby's most capped player. Gregan piloted the club's return to the top division of French rugby in 2008, during a lone season when he and Andrew Mehrtens, the similarly decorated All Black No 10, formed an all-star half-back pairing.

Despite his relatively brief and lucrative stay, Gregan says he still has red and black blood, the club's colours, in his veins. And he would love to be among the 50,000 supporters packed into Marseille's Stade Velodrome this afternoon when the club anthem, the Pilou-Pilou, is cranked up. "I was only there for a year but there is definitely some Toulonnais blood running through me," he said. "I still do the Pilou-Pilou. It is like the team song, but everyone sings it in Toulon - it doesn't matter if you are a crowd or a player, everyone sings it. The kids love it.

"What is amazing is that my son particularly remembers that time vividly. It is great they are playing in the final and they are playing where they belong in the Top 14 [France's domestic league in which Toulon finished second, but lost last week in the semi-finals of the play-offs]." The celebrated Australian scrum-half had rarely experienced rugby quite as raw as during his year in France. In one game against Pau, Gregan was one of four players - plus the coach, Tana Umaga -- to be sent from the field following a brawl, which later cost the club a ?10,000 (Dh46,160) fine.

"We were only playing Pro League Two [the second division of French rugby], which was a really tough, arm-wrestle style," recalls Gregan, who is still playing, aged 37, for Suntory Sungoliath in Japan. "We tried to play really positively but it was a different style of football, especially when you are playing for relegation. I really enjoyed it. It was a great group of player that got together, mixed in with some great local boys from Toulon.

"We got up to the Top 14, and they stayed up and then recruited really well. They have got a strong platform in terms of their forward platform, then have Jonny Wilkinson playing well, loving the lifestyle and fitting right in there." * Compiled by Paul Radley, with agencies Toulon v Cardiff, 5pm, Showsports 3