It is not rare for an Englishman to play at Toulon. Think Jonny Wilkinson, Andrew Sheridan, Simon Shaw, and Steffon and Delon Armitage in the days the club dominated Europe between 2013 and 2015. And think Kyle Sinckler, Lewis Ludlam, David Ribbans and Zach Mercer in recent seasons.
Oliver Cowie, though, is different, because he could play for France. The 20-year-old centre was born near Saint-Tropez to English parents who emigrated to the area before he was born. This has been his breakthrough season with Toulon, playing ten times in the Top 14 and once in the European Cup, against Gloucester at Kingsholm in the pool stage, sometimes in the same match-day squad as Ma’a Nonu, 43, whose Test debut in 2003 came two years before he was born.
Cowie supported England growing up, but has represented France’s under-20 side, playing against Henry Pollock at the Rec during the junior Six Nations last year. He never really thought to apply for a French passport, which he has always been entitled to, until he made the Toulon academy as a teenager. It is a helpful travel document in post-Brexit times, but also means he can represent the France senior side. As a resident since birth, he has long qualified on World Rugby grounds but in France to represent Les Bleus you must be a citizen of the country as well.
So, in time, that could open up the potential of a difficult choice for Cowie. France, or England? “That’s an interesting one. I’ve been asked this question a lot by friends and family. I’ve always answered, ‘You’ve got to be good enough first,’ ” Cowie says.
Cowie won the U20 Six Nations with France last year, finishing above an England team that included PollockSandra Ruhaut/Icon Sport/Getty
“So, for now, I’m focusing on Toulon and I’m trying to get my level up here. You’ve got two sides to it; you’ve got the French side where I’ve grown up here, but then, when I watch an England match I do edge on England, unless I’m playing myself.
“As you grow up cheering for England there’s a big rivalry with the French. Then I played with the French under-20s against England, and you see the other side of it. When you’re on the pitch, you want to smash them.
“I used to only feel English up until about 15. But at 15, that’s when I joined the French academy, and from then that’s where I got my French passport and my French nationality.
“I’d have been able to get it anyway, but before that I never kind of saw the purpose of getting it. You’ve always got that part of English in you, but the fact that you have to play in England to be eligible is a tough one. Who knows?”
The centre enjoys the rural life in France and is fluent in the language but says he still supports England — unless he is playing against themSandra Ruhaut/Icon Sport/Getty
Cowie’s father, Jamie, is a physiotherapist from Devon, and his mother, Giselle, was an accountant from Kingston upon Thames. They would go on holidays to Port Grimaud — “the Venice of the French Riviera” — a 15-minute drive from Saint-Tropez, on the Cote d’Azur between Cannes and Toulon.
“It’s just a village; calm, which I’ve always loved, and kind of rural,” Cowie says. “It’s not an everyday kind of paradise, as you’ll have school and other stuff to go to, but it was always nice going to the beach on weekends. Family from England would come down quite often, and you’d go to the beach and you’d see how special it was for them.
“It does become your day-to-day life but, for them, every time it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is where you live?’ ”
Cowie’s parents had bought a house in the village of Grimaud when they emigrated to France and had three children, William, Oliver and Jessica, before Giselle died ten years ago, around the time that William and Oliver took up junior rugby.
“We’ve always been a sporty family, so I used to do tennis and judo, and at eight years old my dad wanted me and my brother to start rugby because he used to play for Roehampton,” Cowie says. “I was dreading my first session. I was bawling my eyes out. I just didn’t want to go, and he was like, ‘Just do one session. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to do it again’.
“I was just running around all over the place, scoring a load of tries, and had so much fun and I haven’t stopped. So I’m very happy my dad forced me into that first session.”
One embarrassing moment came soon after, though, when Wilkinson visited Cowie’s club at the height of Toulon’s “galactico” era.
“I was so young, I didn’t recognise Jonny,” Cowie says. “My dad obviously did and talked to him, and oh my god, I was like ‘I’ve never just done that!’ My dad was like, ‘Ollie, that was him!’ I thought it was the scrum half Sébastien Tillous-Borde. I don’t know why I confused them!”
Cowie confused Tillous-Borde, left, with England’s World Cup-winning hero Wilkinson, rightJulien Behal/PA
Cowie was only 14 when the Covid pandemic began in 2020 and he joined the Toulon academy, having been spotted representing the wider Var region. Now, six years on, as a fluent French speaker, he helps stars of the world game with English translations.
“We’ve got a lot of English and French players, so I help out when I can,” Cowie says. “You’ve got [France prop] Daniel Brennan, who has an Irish family, so he helps out a lot too. But it’s always good when someone has a little translation problem to be able to help out.
“They separate the players into two groups, the more experienced French and the less experienced, and make them do lessons, which I always thought was tough, but also quite good just to get them talking French. Some players get the hang of it a lot quicker than the others. Dan Biggar took up French stupidly quickly.”
Cowie still pinches himself when he lines up with Nonu, who re-joined the club last year having left for the United States in 2020.
“Growing up around rugby, you know who Ma’a Nonu is,” Cowie says. “I idolised him, especially being a centre, so when I knew he was going to sign again I was like, ‘This is going to be awesome’.
Playing alongside the big-hitting Nonu is a dream come true for CowieAFP/CHRISTOPHE SIMON
“It’s amazing how much you can learn from him, whether it’s on the field or off the field. How he prepares for sessions, matches, and just little habits you can pick up, whether it’s just his passing technique or just what to look at on the field. Or even just the mentality of how to think on the field, which he’s got from years of experience.
“I’m very aware I need to make the most of being around him, because it’s nuts, the guy’s 43, coming on 44 in May, and is still playing professional rugby and in the gym being the biggest guy there, working the hardest. It’s crazy.”
A tall, 6ft 4in centre himself, Cowie could hardly be at a better place to develop into a top-class midfielder. Much can change, but at this point you feel it is more likely he ends up being a French rosbif Englishman, than England’s answer at No12 via France.
Toulon v Stormers
Investec Champions Cup
Saturday, April 4,
Kick-off 3pm
TV Premier Sports 1