Toulon's stars flew into Cardiff to find the Welsh side still reeling after last weekend's defeat by Exeter, the blood-letting which followed it and a director of rugby seemingly running out of time.
On Friday, after showing their defence coach the door, the Cardiff board injected some steel in the form of a noted New Zealand hardman, while a panel of four will decide who replaces the backs coach.
Phil Davies, Cardiff's director of rugby, is one of the four along with Gareth Edwards, the Lions and Wales attack coach, Rob Howley, and the chief executive, Richard Holland. The former dual-code international Iestyn Harris is believed to top a shortlist. The bigger question could be whether Davies will be around at the end of the year when his backs coach, Gareth Baber, leaves.
This week Davies was still insisting that he had the confidence of his players. "I'm pretty sure of that. I have had no issues with them. When I speak with players the reaction I have had has been fantastic," said Davies, echoing similar sentiments last week which sounded a little hollow when Cardiff Blues, a team of 13 internationals, five of them Lions, were 41-3 down at Exeter.
They came back to finish 44-29 but the board met and Rob Powell left only a year after being brought in by Davies, while Dale McIntosh, a back-row forward who swopped King Country for Pontypridd and then spent 18 years rattling bones at Sardis Road, took over in time for Saturday's second-round Heineken Cup pool match against the champions, who racked up 24 points in 25 minutes against Glasgow last week.
Much as Cardiff had done at Exeter, Glasgow responded when the game was lost but still went down 51-28, a worrying thought for Davies, considering Glasgow lead the RaboDirect Pro12 while his side are seventh, 10 points adrift after only five games. With the Dragons above them and performing under the control of Lyn Jones and Kingsley Jones, it could be that Cardiff might not qualify for the Heineken next year, even if there is one.
Their fate in Europe – and possibly Davies's – might be decided by the back-to-back games against Glasgow before Christmas, although Toulon's director of rugby, was more direct in his assessment ofSaturday's game: "If they fall at home it's all over for them," Bernard Laporte said. "You can't qualify after two defeats. So for them this is already a knockout match."
Davies was equally honest: "If we can beat the European champions, it would be sensational, it really would. Hopefully, we will have a full house and that will certainly keep the CO [Holland] happy," he said, reflecting Cardiff's desperate need for the income the Heineken Cup – or what might follow – brings.
All of which seems to be irrelevant to Toulon and their owner, Mourad Boudjellal, who damaged Anglo-French entente this week by saying his club would not compete in the Rugby Champions Cup – the competition proposed by Premiership Rugby in England and Ligue National de Rugby in France to replace the Heineken Cup.
Boudjellal, who collects almost as many headlines as expensive players – this week he added the Sharks hooker Craig Burden while Castres' inspirational scrum-half Rory Kockott is said to be on his way – is objecting to LNR plans and financial incentives for clubs to reduce the number of foreign players in the Top 14. The league wants 55% of players to qualify through the French academies whereas there will be only four Frenchmen in the starting lineup on Saturday. Jonny Wilkinson has recovered from his hand injury, while Frédéric Michalak comes in at scrum-half and Steffon Armitage, who is yet to commit to another Toulon contract, is the openside flanker.
Cardiff bring Owen Williams into the centre and Scott Andrews starts at tight-head prop, where he has the unusual job of playing against Xavier Chiocci, a Toulonnais born and bred.
