Financial Times FT.com

The Business of Rugby Union

Rugby hits a pay wall

By Steve Johnson

Published: March 10 2010 16:14 | Last updated: March 10 2010 16:14

Jonny Wilkinson, the golden boy who kicked his nation to World Cup glory in 2003, may exemplify the best of English rugby, but there is nothing English about his current home.

Stade Félix Mayol lies in the heart of Toulon, on the decidedly un-English Côte d’Azur. And with team-mates James Haskell, Steve Thompson, Riki Flutey and Jamie Noon also swapping the muddy fields of England for warmer French soil of late, this modern-day invasion is something of a revolution.

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