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RUGBY

Wilkinson seeks Toulon career extension

English rugby veteran Jonny Wilkinson has declared that he wants to prolong his career with French Top 14 finalists Toulon beyond the end of the season.

Wilkinson seeks Toulon career extension
Wilkinson adopts his signature kicking pose. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Jonny Wilkinson kicked 25 points as Toulon stayed on course for the French Top 14 final with a 35-16 win over champions Toulouse on Saturday and admitted he wants to keep playing.

Toulon stay two points ahead of Clermont, who earlier defeated Stade Francais 37-10, and are a huge 11 points ahead of third-placed Toulouse.

Wilkinson's contract at Toulon runs until the end of the season, but the 33-year-old believes he can still make a contribution for a club he joined in 2009.

"During my career at Toulon, it has always been a pleasure for me and I want to continue," said Wilkinson.

"But the question that I have to ask myself is: 'Am I doing good things for the team?'

"I have to keep asking this question. If the answer is 'yes' then I am going to keep going. There are great players here and all that I want is that we continue to win, to do good things for the the region."

In a repeat of the 2012 final, Toulon were desperate to shrug off a recent run which had seen them lose two of their last three matches.

On Saturday, buoyed by the return of some of their Six Nations players, 33-year-old Wilkinson kicked two early penalties for a 6-0 lead, but it was Toulouse who grabbed the first try after 13 minutes.

Gael Fickou, the former captain of the Toulon junior team before he switched to Toulouse last year, set up the converted score for Timoci Matanavou.

Wilkinson kicked another penalty just four minutes later with French international centre Mathieu Bastareaud soon going over for Toulon's opening try of the night.

The veteran English fly-half converted, Toulouse stayed in touch with two drop goals from Lionel Beauxis while another Wilkinson penalty gave the home side a 19-13 lead at the interval.

Beauxis cut the deficit to 19-16 early in the second half before Wilkinson succeeded with two drop goals and a penalty to put Toulon out of sight.

Winger Rudi Wulf scored a last-minute try with, fittingly, Wilkinson having the last say with the conversion.

Clermont picked up a bonus point win over Stade Francais at the Stade de France.

They opened strongly with a try after just two minutes with Welsh international full-back Lee Byrne bursting through the home defence and feeding French centre and club captain Aurelien Rougerie for a try which Morgan Parra converted.

Two more tries from Canadian lock Jamie Cudmore after 12 minutes and New Zealand winger Sitiveni Sivivatu after 27, both converted by Parra, put the side from Auvergne 24-3 up and firmly in command at half-time.

Despite the absence of several international players, Clermont kept up the pressure in the second half, moving ahead 30-3 with two more Parra penalties before Stade finally dotted down through replacement Martin Rodriguez Gurruchaga.

But with four minutes to go, Clermont had the last word and a handy offensive bonus point when powerful Fiji winger Napolioni Nalagi bulldozed his way through the line to score.

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SPORT

French rugby in turmoil as FFR boss gets suspended sentence over corruption

Lawyers for FFR President Bernard Laporte said he was going to appeal against the court's verdict

French rugby in turmoil as FFR boss gets suspended sentence over corruption

French rugby was reeling Tuesday after the president of the country’s governing body Bernard Laporte was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence on corruption charges nine months before France hosts the game’s World Cup.

Fédération Française de Rugby (FFR) president Laporte, 58, was convicted after a French court ruled he showed favouritism in awarding a shirt sponsorship contract for the national side to Mohed Altrad, the billionaire owner of Top 14 champions Montpellier. He was also banned from holding any rugby post for two years. Both are suspended pending an appeal, which Laporte’s lawyer said was imminent.

Laporte later stepped down from his role as vice-chairman of the sport’s global governing body, World Rugby, pending a review by the body’s ethics officer.

“World Rugby notes the decision by World Rugby vice-chairman Bernard Laporte to self-suspend from all positions held within its governance structures with immediate effect following his conviction by the French court in relation to domestic matters, and pending his appeal,” World Rugby said.

“While acknowledging Laporte’s self-suspension and right of appeal, given the serious nature of the verdict World Rugby’s Executive Committee has referred the matter to its independent ethics officer for review in accordance with its integrity code,” it added.

Resignation call
Laporte faces problems on the domestic front, too, with Florian Grill, who narrowly lost to him in the 2020 election for federation chief, calling for Laporte and the entire board to stand down.

“It is unheard of in rugby, this is an earthquake,” Grill told AFP. “We have never before seen a president of the federation condemned to two
years in prison, even if it suspended.

“We think the 40 members of the board of directors should draw the obvious conclusions and resign.”

French Sports Minister Amelie Oudea-Castera said the sentence was an “obstacle for Bernard Laporte to be able, as it stands, to continue his mission in good conditions” as federation president, and called for a “new democratic era to allow French rugby to rebound as quickly as possible and sufficiently healthy and solid, with a governance by the federation that will have the full confidence of the clubs”.

The court found that Laporte ensured a series of marketing decisions favourable to Altrad – who was given an 18-month suspended sentence and
€50,000 euro — in exchange for a €180,000 image licensing contract that was never actually carried out.

Altrad’s lawyer said he would study the decision before deciding on whether to appeal.

At the trial’s close in September, prosecutors said they were seeking a three-year prison sentence for Laporte, of which he should serve one behind bars, and the two others on probation.

The friendship and business links between Laporte and Altrad are at the heart of the case.

It goes back to February 2017, when they signed a deal under which Laporte agreed to appear at Altrad group conferences, and sold his image reproduction rights, in return for €180,000.

But while that sum was  paid to Laporte, prosecutors claim that he neveractually provided the services he signed up for.

Laporte did, however, make several public statements backing Altrad and, in March 2017, signed the €1.8 million deal with the businessman making his namesake firm the first-ever sponsor to appear on the French national team’s jerseys.

The Altrad name and logo still features on the shirts thanks to a follow-up deal negotiated by Laporte in 2018 and which prosecutors say bears all the hallmarks of corruption. It is also on the All Blacks’ national squads’ shirts, and New Zealand Rugby is reportedly seeking an urgent meeting with company officials following the court ruling.

Laporte, formerly a highly successful coach who guided France twice to the World Cup semi-finals (2003 and 2007), was also found guilty of favouritism
with regards to Altrad’s Montpellier Herault Rugby (MHR) club.

He was convicted for intervening with French rugby’s federal disciplinary commission to reduce a fine against the club from €70,000 to €20,000 after several telephone calls from Laporte.

While prosecutors saw this and several more incidents as proof of illicit favouritism, Laporte himself had claimed there was no “cause-effect relationship”.

On the last day of the trial in October, Laporte’s lawyer Fanny Colin accused the prosecution of “confirmation bias” by “taking into account only elements backing their original assumptions”.

The verdict comes only nine months before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France on September 8, 2023, with matches played in nine stadiums across the country.

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