Julian Savea’s wife lets rip at his Toulon teammates after heavy defeat

Patrick McCarry

We wonder what Paul O’Connell made of all this…

Stade Francais rebounded to their sounding beating at the hands of Clermont, last weekend, to dole out one of their own. It was a game to forget for Julian Savea but one in which Gael Fickou bossed.

Toulon arrived in Paris on Sunday with their usual, star-studded line-up but shipped a 37-10 beating. Stade Francais, who have O’Connell and Mike Prendergast on their coaching staff, were inspired by Gael Fickou while Morné Steyn contributed 15 points off the kicking tee.

Near the end of the game, with Toulon already trailing by 20 points, Stade flanker Sekou Macalou’s got into it with Toulon winger Julian Savea.

Matters got messy when a spectator – later confirmed to be Macalou’s older brother – entered the field of play, pink flag in hand, and started squaring up to Toulon players. Stade may face sanctions from the LNR for allowing him to get on to the pitch so handily.

Ten minutes from time, a spectator entered the fray after a coming together. We now know that the intruder below was Sekou Macalou's brother according to the #Midol. pic.twitter.com/4AJFCyEvE0

— Paul Eddison (@pauleddison) September 17, 2018

Next up, at home, for Stade are Racing 92 – Donnacha Ryan and Simon Zebo’s team – so they will be hoping they not be ordered to play that one out in a neutral venue.

Both Macalou and Savea were shown yellow cards so missed the final 10 minutes of regular time, returning for a brief spell of added time before the final whistle blew. The yellow card compounded another tough game for Savea. Both he and Toulon have endured a slow start to the season.

Mourad Boudjellal’s side are 12th after four rounds of fixtures with just one win and 57 points scored. In return, they have shipped 109 points and are just ahead of the winless Gernoble and Perpignan.

Savea joined Toulon from Hurricanes having spent eight seasons with them and having come within touching distance of Doug Howlett’s try-scoring record with the All Blacks.

Savea may be keeping his counsel for now – and Toulon will surely improve their fortunes soon – but his wife Fatima was not holding back as she watched Toulon struggle against Stade.