Zach Mercer has revealed that the legacy of fellow Englishman Jonny Wilkinson at Toulon is inspiring him at his new Top 14 club.
The back-rower returned to France after a two-year stint at Gloucester in the Gallagher Premiership.
The ex-Montpellier player took the French league by storm during his first involvement, leading his club to first-time Top 14 glory in 2022 with a man-of-the-match performance in the Paris final versus Castres.
An approach from Eddie Jones followed that stunning success. The then England coach enquired if Mercer, the ex-Bath player who Jones capped twice at Test level in 2018, would be interested in coming back to the Premiership in time for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Mercer agreed a two-year deal with George Skivington’s Kingsholm-based Gloucester. However, by the time he arrived home, Jones had long since been sacked by the RFU, and the forward didn’t get a look-in regarding England selection under Steve Borthwick.
“Knee injury did me good…”
With his contract now expired at Gloucester, Mercer has taken up an offer from Toulon to go back to the Top 14, and ahead of the start of their new 2025/26 league campaign on September 6 – ironically at home to his old club, Montpellier – Mercer has given an interview to the local Var-Matin newspaper.
In it, he outlined his admiration for Wilkinson, who guided Toulon to a Top 14/Champions Cup double in 2014, a year after they were first crowned European champions. He also spoke about his recovery from the serious knee injury suffered last November at Northampton, and why he was overlooked by Borthwick’s England.
“When you are English, wearing this (Toulon) jersey is never trivial,” he said after a summer settling in at the club that has fellow ex-England internationals Kyle Sinckler, Lewis Ludlam and David Ribbans currently on its books. “Because Toulon, for an Englishman, rhymes with Jonny, right?
“Well, I’m lucid. If I accomplish even half of what Jonny has achieved here, that will already be extraordinary. Me, I want to win the Brennus and the Champions Cup.”
Switching to his lengthy injury recovery, Mercer added: “I arrived the first week of July. It was a deal with the medical staff. We wanted to observe my knee a little with the physios, to be sure that when I resumed training at the end of July, I would be at 100 per cent.
“I feel like I have been renewed in my mind, in my body. I’ll even go further, but with a little hindsight, the knee injury did me good. It’s hard to be away from the field for seven months, but you have to understand that, since I was 18, I have never been able to take a break.
“Bath, Montpellier, Gloucester, matches every weekend… Now, I have been refreshed, and I am even hungrier. It has allowed me to spend precious time with my children, which would never have been possible without my injury. I was at home and I saw them grow up much more than I could have imagined. It was very special. You know, things happen for a reason.”
As for reflections on his England snub by Borthwick after Jones, who has previously snubbed him, tempted him back from France, he said: “Perhaps my face didn’t appeal to them? Or simply that my profile wasn’t what they expected? In any case, whatever, it probably wasn’t my story. England has very good back rows, that’s how it is.”