MartinCastrogiovanni had built himself up a legendary status at Welford Road; howeverin the space of just half a dozen minutes, he had made an outburst thattarnished his legacy as a player and made him look foolish.
The Italianprop, now playing for French Toulon, launched a bad-tempered attack on his former boss at LeicesterTigers, Richard Cockerill, after Toulon's EuropeanChampion's Cup close defeat at Leicester on Sunday by 25-21. This was abitter defeat as Toulon are the defending European Champions.
Castrogiovanni’s post- match attackon the Leicester players and Cockerill was in response to the accusations thathe left the Midlands club in a dispute over a pay rise.
Several swear words were used by the Italian. RichardCockerill, who himself has a history of using foul language, has questioned thereasons behindCastrogiovanni’s outburst.
LeicesterTigers, founded in 1880, have been the most successful English club of alltime.
Castrogiovanni,33, also known as “Castro”, played for Rugby Calvisano in Italy before he moved toLeicester in 2006, where he stayed till 2013. During the seven years of hiscareer in England he was very popular with the Leicester fans. He also had anItalian restaurant in Leicester.
However, itwas known that Castrogiovanni did not like to be rotated and would rather goand play somewhere else, if he was not played. In 2013 Leicester agreedan amount in which he would be released under contract.
Toulon wereinterested in Castrogiovanni but apparently would not pay the fee for him. The Italian prop claims that he paid the release fee of £100,000 from hisown pocket and went to play for Toulon.
After hisrant, Toulon apologised to Leicester and said they would investigate theincident; the Italian is now facing a ban due to his use of foul language, withthe European authorities investigating what happened along with DelonArmitage’s alleged abuse towards his home supporters at Leicester.
Toulon areplaying Leicester on Saturday, 13th December. What a game to watch!
