What looks like the slow and painful decline and fall of the Top 14’s original Galacticos is actually a chance to rebuild the club with a new – very French – image.
What a difference two years makes – 731 little days, including the leap year in 2016.
In May 2015, Toulon won their third European title in as many years. It remains their most recent piece of silverware. Twelve months earlier they had done the domestic and European double. The season before that, two weeks after winning the first of their European hat-trick of titles, they missed out on a full French set when they lost the Top 14 final to Castres Olympique.
James Harrington: Freelance sports journalist 