Bernard Laporte takes aim at Munster and Wayne Barnes

It's not only Munster players but Heineken Cup semi-final referee Wayne Barnes, who could feel the heat in Sunday's match on the Cote D'Azur.

Never one to stick with convention, Toulon coach Bernard Laporte has said that his team are favourites when Munster come to visit the Stade Velodrome, while he and Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal also come into the match with a history of abusing referees.

The 49-year-old former French coach, Laporte, who is currently serving a 16 week touchline ban for verbally abusing an official last month, has said that his 2013 European Cup winning team will start as favourites against Ireland’s two time Heineken Cup champions.

“We have a slight advantage in that we are playing at home at the Velodrome,” said Laporte. “One can say that the match is 51-49 per cent in our favour.”

The coach picked up his ban last month after criticism of French referee Laurent Cardona, who he said was “hopeless” and “completely incompetent.”

Laporte then stormed out of the ground generating speculation that he had actually walked away from the game for good, although, not before he had added that Cardona “robs us every time. He was hopeless all the match. He always is hopeless. If we continue to work in a professional environment with amateurs it’s going to be a catastrophe.”

In 2012 Laporte also received a 60 day ban when he insulted referee Romain Poite.

Biased
That can be no comfort to Barnes, as it is less than a month since owner Boudjellal accused the English man of being more biased than hopeless against his team.

The club owner launched into an unprompted tirade after Toulon comfortably defeated Leinster in their quarter-final, saying he was afraid when he heard Barnes had been picked for the Munster semi-final. Boudjellal added that he felt Barnes was “a bit biased.”

Had European Rugby not been at war with the club owners over the future direction of the Heineken Cup, he would have almost certainly been censured by the ERC.

But it has been part of an ongoing saga and while Boudjellal was not disciplined for undermining Barnes, he was disciplined in 2012 when the France’s referees association threatened to take legal action against him after claiming his side had been “sodomised” by officials in a league match against Clermont. For that remark, the Top 14 banned the club owner for 130 days.

Referee aside, Laporte also said that he believes Munster’s focus is purely on the Heineken Cup as coaching staff from the province were on a scouting mission last Saturday at Toulon’s Top 14 game against Perpignan in Barcelona, where Toulon won 46-31.

“Their strength in the mauls is a redoubtable weapon,” he said about Munster. “They are equally strong in the lineouts as well. They haven’t reached this stage of the competition for nothing. But then they have to say the same thing about us . . . if one recalls that last year we went away to Saracens and won.”

More competition
Last week's win put Toulon on top of the Top 14 table, which the coach believes is a result of more competition for places in his squad. For this season's campaign, the club have more than two credible teams to pick from.

“This season we have a squad of 30 to 35 players competing for places in the line-ups for both competitions,” he said. “However, one has to have a large body of players to select from, otherwise it is impossible to focus on two fronts. Also with regard to last season several players have made progress and there is also more maturity in the squad.

“The most glaring example is that of Jocelino Suta (lock). Last year he was satisfied to be second or third choice. Now he has resumed his responsibilities and behaves like a first choice. He has made a huge amount of progress.”

Whether that public flattery is a result of Toulon's current injury list is difficult to say but it is convenient that Suta's form coincides with injuries to two of his biggest names, World Cup winners Bakkies Botha and Ali Williams. Neither the Springbok nor the All Black secondrows have been cleared fit to play at the weekend.

“[They] are improving and we hope to have them back but we will see later in the week with the medical staff,” said Laporte.