Stop fantasising about Dominguez's sacking: Toulon owner

Stop fantasising about Dominguez's sacking: Toulon owner

TOULON (FRANCE) - Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal insisted Wednesday that under-fire coach Diego Dominguez was not in his crosshairs after a poor start to the Top 14 season.

RC Toulon's head coach Diego Dominguez has so far this season delivered just two wins from the team's five outings

The three-time former European champions, beaten in last year's domestic final by Parisian arch-rivals Racing 92, currently stand eighth on 11 points, with just two wins from their five outings so far.

Last weekend, Toulon were hammered by Racing 41-30, two late tries giving a gloss to the final score of a match in which they were comprehensively outplayed for large periods.

"You need to stop fantasising about the sacking of Diego Dominguez," Boudjellal said of the ex-Italy fly-half, with his side due to play in-form league leaders Clermont on Sunday.

"Diego Dominguez is not a target today," he said, adding: "If we lose 95-0, that reopens the debate, but that's the case for every coach."

Boudjellal, who made his fortune from the comic book publishing business, continued: "Diego's not under pressure. Toulon are not playing well because we don't have the players" due to a raft of injuries.

Toulon have Australian wing Drew Mitchell and South African Bryan Habana away on international duty, while the likes of captain Duane Vermeulen, playmaker Matt Giteau, flanker Juanne Smith, wingers Vincent Clerc and James O'Connor, and prop Jean-Charles Orioli are all out injured.

"I carried out an audit on my club, spoke with lots of people. I try to fully understand the problems. We must first get our players back," said Boudjellal.

"But it really annoys me to see how our backs are playing," he said in an unveiled criticism of Australian backs coach Steve Meehan.

Turning to Clermont in the sixth round of Top 14 matches, the outspoken president said: "I'm under no illusion. Clermont are currently a fighter plane".

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