Owen Slot, writing in The Times, heads to Toulon to check up on Jonny Wilkinson's progress ahead of the new season.
"You do not need to know Jonny Wilkinson particularly well to enjoy his story of his maiden trip to the club gym. He tells it because it wryly mocks both himself and the culture at Toulon, his new team in the south of France.
"It is Day 1 and there he is in the gym, before 8am, as keen as any new recruit would be to make a good impression. He finds he is sandwiched between one group of club-mates, the 7am-ers and the second wave at 8am. He starts doing stretches and warm-ups but cannot get down to work because the 7am-ers all come and shake his hand with a warm “Ça va?” He then starts to do some weights but every time he gets going, one of the 8am-ers arrives and shakes his hand with another friendly “Ça va?” How can he be diligent, hard-working Jonny with all this going on?
"But within days, he has realised that acceptance must come before frustration. Every morning he must go through this, before he can put his Wilko hard-work head on; he, like everyone else in the squad, has to ensure that he has shaken hands with all the others. It is the French way.
"He is learning, but has not yet cracked, the regional differences of the morning greeting, the handshakes and hand slaps. Some do the French double-kiss, the players from the Mediterranean rest their heads against each other, like a kissing of temples."
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