Toulon’s new Welsh signing Jamie Robinson has lifted the lid on the current hysteria surrounding the club.

“Everything is Jonny this and Jonny that,” Robinson told the Western Mail as he reflected on the impact of Jonny Wilkinson’s arrival. “There is so much pressure on him and everywhere we go people want a piece of him. I have played against him before, but when you play alongside him you realise what a machine he is.

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“He is just a great professional and the way he looks after himself and the fitness he does is so impressive. We played alongside each other for our first game and he just threw himself around without any concern for is how safety whatsoever. You have to admire that after the bad run of injuries he has had,” said Robinson.

The 35-times capped international said he was relishing his new environs. “The whole Toulon organisation has the feel of a place really going somewhere,” he said, “The club really represents the region and the people from Marseilles and Nice all come to watch us play. The message we are getting from everybody is that we may be a team of big names and the club everybody is talking about, but that we have to create a new history.”

Robinson admitted the physical nature of French rugby was something of a shock, describing rucks as “carnage” with “plenty of flare-ups”. He added: “The collisions are unbelievably savage and you have to keep your wits about you.”

The Welsh star also said that new coach Philippe Saint-Andre was drumming in a positive approach to the Toulon squad. “He wants us to buck the trend and really go out and play,” said the outside centre.

The former Cardiff player admitted to missing family and friends but described his new life as “everything I wanted and more”.

Castres’ new coach Laurent Travers said the club was “starting from scratch” as it looks ahead to the 2009/10 campaign. Castres beat Dax 35-3 in their opening pre-season friendly on Friday, but Travers said the most important thing at the moment was to get the squad gelled after so many new arrivals.

“The goal is to best prepare for the championship matches. It is not really the results [of the friendlies] that will interest us, more the way the players come together,” he added.

Optimism is high at the club which struggled to 11^th last season but words and deeds are different things altogether, as he readily admitted. “You can say what you want, make beautiful sentences, but it is on the pitch where we will see how things really are,” said Travers.

The former Montauban coach said Top 14 survival remains the club’s primarily target for 2009/10. “The objective, therefore is to get 44 points, then we’ll see. Compared to other teams with are starting with a handicap because it is much easier to prepare for a season with stability in the squad, but on the other hand there is no question of hiding behind this as an excuse.

Brumbies coach Tony Rea said they had upped their physicality after coming up short in their first two matches – defeats to Bourgoin and Bayonne.

“The guys prepared well and had their heads on for what was a tough match,” he said afterwards. “We learned where we needed to be physically from the first two games and were able to bully them on the ball and we were rewarded for it. We realised that we needed to win every collision for the 80 minutes, we did and we got the result.”

Perpignan, meanwhile, are counting the cost of the bruising encounter with both Jean-Pierre Perez and Jerome Porical ruled out of Friday’s friendly against Racing-Metro 92 at the Stade Aime Giral.

The Stade Municipal, where Stade Toulousain play some of their higher profile matches, has unveiled plans to increase its capacity to 40,000 by 2014. The City council has commissioned architects to draw up plans, with a view to putting the enlarged ground forward to host matches at Euro 2016, should France be awarded the prestigious international football tournament.

SCA Albi, meanwhile, have been hit by an injury to Laurent Baluc Rittener that will rule out the flanker for up to two months. The influential back-row forward needs an operation on a persistent groin problem.

Bayonne are planning an open day on Tuesday (Aug 4) at the Stade Jean Dauger, with the full squad presented to fans at 7pm. The afternoon’s training session will also be open to the public.

ProD2 newcomers Aix-en-Provence have signed Springbok winger Wayne Jules after missing out on former Welsh international Dafydd James – who signed for Cardiff Blues after training with the French club.

Jules, 30, joins from Super 14’s Bulls, while fellow South African Hermanus Myburgh is also being lined up to sign from the Cheetahs. The 31-year-old lock is reportedly in ongoing discussions with Aix-en-Provence.

La Rochelle have also been in transfer action, signing veteran Fijian winger Norman Ligairi, 33, from Brive.