Last year, Stade Toulousain stayed at the quay twice.
Two defeats in the semi-finals, swept away by Leinster in Dublin in the Champions Cup, then in Nice by Castres Olympique in the Top 14. A season without a title after the historic double achieved in 2021. It is therefore revengeful that the players of 'Ugo Mola go on a quest.
“We are having a good season, with two semi-finals, even if it is not in the standards of Stade Toulousain.
We will come back stronger”,
had warned the third line of the Blues, Anthony Jelonch, just after the defeat against the CO.
To discover
Schedule and Top 14 results
Ranking Top 14
To move forward, the Haut-Garonne club has been able to be attractive on the transfer market, notably by enlisting four recognized talents to expand its brilliant three-quarter line a little more.
Thus, the back of the XV of France Melvyn Jaminet (23 years old, 12 selections, Perpignan), the center Pierre-Louis Barassi (24 years old, 3 selections, Lyon), the winger Arthur Retière (25 years old, 1 selection, La Rochelle) and the Italian international Ange Capuozzo (23 years old, 5 selections, Grenoble) came to swell the ranks of the Red and Black.
With boundless ambition.
In a friendly match against RC Toulon (31-21 victory), Jaminet and Barassi stood out in their new colors.
“There is a lot of quality in the back lines of Stade Toulousain,
recognized the latter on the club's website.
There are two or even three very high level players per position.
It's going to be all the more complicated to get out of the game and stand out, but I'm not lacking in motivation...
"
And Arthur Retière to move forward, ambitious:
“There is a group of competitors and we will do everything to be there.
Above all, you have to win the matches that matter because if you have a good season and you don't win anything at the end, it's not very interesting.
Problem for Stade Toulousain, the arrival of these new internationals will further complicate the task of the staff during international windows and the inevitable “duplicates”.
Even more in this year which will end with the 2023 World Cup in France...
But Ugo Mola, the stadium manager, has already warned that he will reserve rest periods for his internationals.
“We spoke with the staff of the France team and our players,
explained the Toulouse technician at a press conference.
We set the scene.
I'm not a fan, but a rotation
(of players)
is planned over given periods so that we manage to spare our troops.
Mola will 'not sacrifice the results of the club against anyone and for anything'
And to add:
“It is obvious that a season with 30-35 matches, as Antoine
(Dupont),
Romain
(Ntamack),
François
(Cros)
and others have experienced, will be detrimental to the success of their Coupe du world.
I will do everything in our power to allow our players and as many people as possible to participate in a World Cup in France.
Further proof that the hatchet is now buried between the clubs and the staff of the Blues.
Read also XV of France: do the Blues really play more than the British?
But Ugo Mola keeps high goals and ambitions for his troops, used to playing the leading roles.
Last year, Toulouse struggled to maintain the level of excellence they had known by lifting the Brennus shield in 2019 and 2021 (
no title awarded in 2020, editor's note
).
Things are therefore clear:
“I will not sacrifice the results of the club against anyone and for anything,
launches the Toulouse manager.
Priority will be given to Stade Toulouse in general.
Read alsoMaxime Lucu: “UBB deserves to qualify for a final”
Antoine Dupont and his teammates attack from the start with a big piece, a trip to the lawn of Chaban-Delmas, Sunday in prime time (9 p.m.), to rub shoulders with Union Bordeaux-Bègles.
For this first match, Toulouse will be deprived of 12 players: Cyril Baille (adductor surgery, and absent at least two and a half months), David Ainu'u, Joel Merkler, Yannick Youyoutte, Thibaud Flament, François Cros, Rynhardt Elstadt, Santiago Chocobares, Paul Graou, Lucas Tauzin, Pita Ahki and Juan Cruz Mallia.
“To say that I find Bordeaux dangerous, yes.
I find it difficult to know in what state of form we are, so I cannot know for them
, ”underlines Ugo Mola.
The start of the school year is already looking complicated for the Rouge et Noir.