Mourad Boudjellal cupped his ear, pretending not to know the name. “Who? Jonny Wilkinson, W-I-L ...” he said and laughed. The Toulon president has become used to his club being linked with the world's leading players and, were Wilkinson to be on the market, Boudjellal would be interested.

This is the man who, in the two years of his presidency, has spent €5million (about £4million) on his hometown club and bought in Tana Umaga, George Gregan, Victor Matfield and Anton Oliver on short-term contracts to ensure promotion to France's Top 14. Umaga, the former New Zealand captain, returned for a two-year role as head coach and he has ensured the arrival of Sonny Bill Williams, ripped controversially from rugby league in Australia, but with the potential to become an All Blacks player.

Boudjellal has been accused of assembling a team of mercenaries to sustain his ambition of challenging the establishment - Toulouse, Stade Français, Clermont Auvergne - for domestic and European titles. In which case, like met like at the Stade Félix-Mayol on Saturday because Brive, too, have recruited a team from 11 countries, although the 3-3 outcome of their championship clash in debilitating heat of 35C (95F) gave meaning to the French expression “match nul” - drawn and dreadful.

The Ferrari-driving Boudjellal, of Algerian descent, who has made his fortune in publishing, is the direct opposite of the reclusive Daniel Derichebourg, who bought Brive almost by accident and seldom attends their matches. But Derichebourg, who made his money in scrap metal, has the reputation in France for making companies work and expects the same of Brive.

Both clubs have Englishmen in significant managerial positions who know what can happen when sporting organisations become the plaything of wealthy individuals. Simon Gillham, the Brive chief executive, and Tom Whitford, the general manager at Toulon, were too close for comfort to Richmond's fall from grace ten years ago, but they believe that they are part of the regenerative process of clubs who have been champions of France and of Europe.

Boudjellal's immediate ambition is to stay up, but his long-term plans embrace the development of the town's ground from a capacity of 13,000 to 23,000, pushing the annual budget from its present level of €14million to €22million, the equivalent of what Toulouse, the champions, spend. Toulon will take two matches, against Toulouse and Perpignan, to the Stade Vélodrome, which holds nearly 60,000, in Marseilles this season.

“We tried to get a big player from England, but he was always injured,” Boudjellal, who hoped to bring in Dan Carter before the New Zealand fly half opted for a sabbatical with Perpignan, said coyly. “I know another French club made a big offer for Wilkinson and, if he was available, I would be interested. But I'm not Roman Abramovich.”

Even so, the arrival this week of Joe van Niekerk, the South Africa back-row forward, and Luke Rooney, the Australia rugby league wing (with English parents), emphasises where he seeks to take Toulon.

Brive number four England players in their ranks, although on Saturday it was two Welshmen, Barry Davies, capped once at full back in 2006, and Liam Davies (no relation) at scrum half, who caught the eye. If Ben Cohen, Steve Thompson and Andy Goode (one penalty goal from three attempts) - Ben Johnston, once of Saracens, is injured - are to keep their international ambitions alive, they will have to play better than they did here, but on a day when even the French complained about the heat, they will improve once their organisation settles.

But they will hope, as will the crowd who so enjoyed Toulon's defeat on Tuesday of Clermont Auvergne, that the laws will allow them to play. Didier Mené, once an international-panel referee, awarded 27 penalties and blew for 37 scrums, leaving players of both teams uncertain as to what they should be doing at the breakdown.

This will happen in England, too, as the experimental law variations are assimilated, particularly between teams who are roughly on a par. Mené was abused by spectators and more directly by a photographer hired for the occasion by the municipal authorities, for this is a town where rugby is king. Public thoroughfares were closed by the police so that team buses could reach the stadium on time and walkways were blocked off to allow easy passage for players from the ground to the post-match function.

Could Wilkinson wind up here? Thompson and Cohen, his 2003 World Cup-winning colleagues, are in France and the Newcastle Falcons fly half's French studies have made considerable progress. “It's possible to see someone like Wilkinson ending up in Toulon,” Umaga said. “It's a working-class town, a tough town, but Mourad has done wonderful things for it. Without him, we would not be here, I would not be here.”

- France's Top 14 clubs must declare annual budgets for the forthcoming season while Guinness Premiership clubs, though declaring financial turnovers in their annual reports, are obliged to operate under a playing salary cap that stands at £4million.