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TOULON - Sonny Bill Williams is expected to meet Toulon coach Tana Umaga this week, the French rugby club's president revealed today.
After saying at the weekend the runaway National Rugby League player was not set to join the club, Mourad Boudjellal was quoted by French media today
saying a meeting was imminent.
"Williams wishes to meet Tana and speak with him, this will happen this week," Boudjellal was quoted as saying on the website of leading French newspaper L'Equipe.
But Boudjellal was mindful of the fact Williams would be switching football codes and acknowledged the matter was not a simple transfer.
"If he wants to play here, to stop playing (league), if we have the authorisation of the IRB and if we can afford it, then we will study the file. It would be an enormous opportunity."
Williams, who was believed to be in hiding in London en route to France, has been issued with a subpoena to face the NSW Supreme Court court next week.
The subpoena is the first step in the Bulldogs' bid to impose an injunction on Williams, preventing him from taking up an offer to play in the French rugby union competition.
He has been ordered to appear - or have a representative appear on his behalf - in court in Sydney on August 5.
However, reports in Australia today suggested Sonny Bill Williams will return fire against the NRL's legal threats by challenging its salary cap, a move that could destroy the financial foundations of Australia's four football codes.
Williams' lawyers will argue that the salary cap is an unreasonable restraint of trade - and some legal experts suggest he could succeed, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today.
If Williams was successful it would impose changes for Australia's four football codes which all rely on salary caps.
Should an Australian court find in favour of the New Zealand international, it would entitle the AFL Players' Association to challenge the Australian Rules salary cap.
The Australian Rugby Union also imposes "contracting protocols" which set maximums on what its four Super 14 clubs pay players while soccer's A-League has a salary cap in place, with a single marquee player allowed to earn full market value.
NRL chief executive David Gallop has called on the International Rugby Board (IRB) to block the 22-year-old's registration with Toulon.
New Zealander Williams is believed to be travelling on a Samoan passport and could have run into problems if he did not have the correct visa to allow him to enter France.
Toulon, newly promoted to the French Top 14, are due to start their 2008-09 season on August 26 against Clermont and are reportedly prepared to pay Williams $3 million to play for them for the next two years.
- AAP, NZPA