Next Saturday's Heineken Cup clash between Toulon and Clermont Auvergne in Dublin may be the fourth all-French final in the competition's history, but the French connection might look a tad tenuous if you strolled into either dressing room at the Aviva Stadium shortly before kick-off.
To call the two sides cosmopolitan would understate the vigour with which they have trawled the globe in search of the planet's best players in recent years. When Clermont beat Munster in their semi-final two weeks ago, their match squad included players from 10 different countries; the following day, Toulon got by with just nine nationalities as they cruised past Saracens.
All of which is a source of frustration to France coach Philippe Saint-Andre (who has clearly forgotten his own enthusiasm for overseas recruits when he was running affairs at Gloucester, Sale and, er, Toulon) but it also reflects the fact that France has become the financial superpower in modern rugby – and all the indications are that it is likely to stay there for some time yet.
Lee Byrne acknowledged the power of the euro when he packed in his lot with Ospreys two seasons ago and signed on at Clermont. It was a timely move as his new club, so long the bridesmaids of French rugby, had only recently won the French championship, ending a run of 10 straight defeats.
That triumph took a rather tired monkey off Clermont's back. Along the way, the side have also racked up an astonishing run of 60 consecutive victories at their claustrophobic Stade Marcel Michelin home, beating a record held by Stade Francais. But their dreams now, says Byrne, are of European glories rather than merely domestic success.
"It's massive," said the 46-times-Welsh capped full-back of the Heineken Cup campaign, "especially after losing to Leinster last year in the semis. After that, we sat down as a group and it surprised me how much the French boys wanted to win it. You hear stories that the French title is more important, but everybody wants to win the Heineken Cup just as much. We want to be the best team in Europe, not just in France."
Clermont are favourites to win in Dublin. It is not just the breadth of their recruitment that impresses, but the depth of quality they can boast as well. They not only field Test players in almost every position, they can assemble a full international bench as well. Not even Toulouse, the most successful side in Heineken Cup history, could match that.
But amongst all the foreign Johnnies, there is also the foreign Jonny to consider. Wilkinson by name, the Toulon playmaker whose entire career has been one fairytale finish after another. Byrne does not underestimate the influence the Englishman can bring to bear. Toulon scored a total of 45 points in their quarter-final and semi-final victories over Leicester and Saracens respectively, all from Wilkinson's boot.
Byrne said: "We can't give away penalties in our own half because it is almost guaranteed to be three points against us if we do. We'll be squeaky clean.
"Toulon are full of international players so it is going to be difficult. But we've played them twice this season, beat them the first time at home and then drawn the second game away."
Clermont also did a home-and-away Top 14 double over Toulon last season, although they subsequently lost their French championship semi-final against the Provencal side. That setback has festered among them since. The signs are that they will make amends on Saturday.
Alasdair Reid
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article