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Rhys Webb's agent has addressed Toulon president's latest outburst
By Harry West
Rhys Webb has followed Toulon team-mate Julian Savea's lead in defending himself in the wake of criticism from club president Mourad Boudjellal.
Saturday's 19-10 defeat away at Agen left big-spending Toulon languishing 11th in the Top 14 table, 14 points adrift of the top six and a place in the play-offs.
Boudjellal took aim at some of his players after the disappointing result, with Savea one of those mentioned in comments made to RMC on Sunday.
The New Zealand wing was seemingly told he was no longer welcome at Toulon, though the player responded on Twitter by saying he would ignore the negativity and continue to honour his contract by training and playing for the team.
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As for Webb, Boudjellal said: "His agents are offering him all over Wales, while he still owes us one more year on his contract. Don't worry, I won't hold him back."
Those comments prompted Webb's representatives to issue a riposte, explaining the trying personal circumstances the British and Irish Lion scrum-half had endured while insisting he had no intention of departing the club.
"The last month or so has been really difficult for Rhys with his family moving back to Wales because one of his sons found it hard to settle out there and adjust to being in a French language school," said Webb's agent Derwyn Jones.
"However, Rhys wants to make it clear he hasn't had any conversations with the club at all about leaving Toulon.
"He has a strong family network which will support his fiancee and children back home in Bridgend. Toulon have openly said he's one of the most professional players they have come across.
"Rhys' immediate goal is to help the club start winning again and make the top six in the French league. The club have spoken to me to say they are concerned about how Rhys will cope without his family.
"But Rhys has assured me he's committed to the club. The club have not indicated to me they are unhappy with Rhys, which is a totally separate conversation. So Rhys remains committed to the team."
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Latest Comments
I think we need to get innovative with the new laws.
Now red cards are only 20 minutes, Razor should send Finau on a head hunting mission to hospitalise their 10 with a shoulder to the chops.
Give the conspiracy theorists a win.
Go to commentsEngland played well enough to win but couldnt score when they needed to and couldnt defend a couple of X-Factor moments from Telea which was ultimately the difference. They needed to hold the ball more and make the AB's make more tackles. Territorially they were good for the first 60. Defending their lead and playing pragmatic rugby in the last 20 was silly. The AB's always had the potential to come back. England still have a long way to go, definite progress would have been shown had they won but it seems they are still stuck where they were shortly after the six nations and their tour to NZ
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