It wasn’t long after the news broke that Jake White was leaving Montpellier, and being replaced by Vern Cotter, that I started looking forward to the return of sexy rugby on the Mediterranean coast
Getting rid of the World Cup-winning coach who led them to the European Challenge Cup in his first full season in charge could be the best thing that’s ever happened to Montpellier.
The big news out of the Top 14 last week was not that Toulon owner Mourad Boudjellal was considering selling the club after a decade in charge.
Boudjellal wears his heart on his sleeve, and, for all that he’s portrayed as the moustache-twirling Victorian baddie of the Top 14, his is a big heart that beats in rouge-et-noir for his beloved club.
He may well sell-up – talks with a fellow local business consortium are said to be at an advanced stage – but, make no mistake, this is not the great parting of the ways some would like to believe it will be.
No, the big news came from further west along the Mediterranean coast, where it was revealed that World Cup-winning coach Jake White’s tenure at Montpellier is coming to an end as eyebrow-raising as its beginning.
James Harrington: Freelance sports journalist 