Toulon president Bernard Lemaître described the Springbok Eben Etzebeth lock as a “handicap” for the club because it is “expensive, gets injured regularly and is often on a trial mission”.

In a high-profile interview with the regional newspaper Var-morning, Lemaître explained the problems the club face in terms of recruiting for the upcoming 2022-23 season and, in the process, swept Etzebeth and Argentinian Facundo Isa.

Lemaître said Etzebeth and Isa are injured or absent in national service more than they play for the club and demanded that World Rugby implement a law that “prevents foreign countries to come to the Top 14 supermarket to take the players they need for their selection “or that the national unions pay at least compensation to release their Test players.

“There is a double recruitment problem: the salary cap and the JIFFs. We can’t do everything, so I pay special attention to the situation of internationals because they can be an opportunity or a handicap. In this case, players like Eben Etzebeth and Facundo Isa are an obvious handicap for the club.

“The policy of the XV of France is very clear and we know that some players like Gros or Villière will be called up regularly. Whereas for foreigners it is different. I spoke with Bernard Laporte who agrees with me: the League should work with World Rugby to prevent foreign countries from coming to the Top 14 supermarket to take the players they need for their selection.

“Or, if they do, there should be compensation. These players get paid, cost the club to refuel, and are used by someone else. This, even at the level of labor law, does not exist. There is a problem to be solved.