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Toulouse defeat Leigh in Challenge Cup

yakstorm

First Grade
Messages
5,294
An impressive effort by TO to defeat Leigh 10 - 8 overnight in Toulouse.

Now whilst it wasn't a full strength Leigh side and TO did have home ground advantage, for the 'part-time' TO side to defeat a full time outfit like Leigh is not a minor achievement.

Just highlights why TO should have just been allowed entry straight into the Championship versus running around in League One for a year... Arguably only complacency can stop them qualifying now.
 
Messages
14,139
Never mind championship. They should be in SL by now. It's a failure of the rfl admin that they aren't. The fact they're not even in the second tier this year just compounds it.
 

adamkungl

Immortal
Messages
42,955
No point banging on about it, they're almost certain to move up next year and a good shot of having a SL team within 3. At least they're in the position to do so and will be seen to have earned the right.
 
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14,139
No team will get into SL through this middle eight business. It's stacked against the championship sides too much. The only way is if they ignore salary caps and let the championship clubs spend closer to what the SL clubs do. Even then everything has to go right.
 

geordie_saint

Juniors
Messages
141
No point banging on about it, they're almost certain to move up next year and a good shot of having a SL team within 3. At least they're in the position to do so and will be seen to have earned the right.

Great to see Toulouse beating the Championship favourites but I still feel the whole 'earn the right' malarkey displays a complete lack of leadership on the RFL's behalf. They should be in SL now with a relegation waiver (as per the Catalan induction model).
 

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
Great to see Toulouse beating the Championship favourites but I still feel the whole 'earn the right' malarkey displays a complete lack of leadership on the RFL's behalf. They should be in SL now with a relegation waiver (as per the Catalan induction model).
It's funny that, cos you lot say the exact same thing when, say, the Crusaders go bankrupt and leave behind a bunch of unpaid players and administrators. Ask Ryan O'Hara what he and many others went through when a team was forced prematurely into the SL.

'Lack of leadership' you would call that.

The RFL, they're not perfect, but with some of you armchair critics here, they're simply damned if they do, damned if they don't.


Anyway, well done to Toulouse! I'm stoked for them!
 
Messages
14,139
What a load of shit. Toulouse should have been promoted to SL in exactly the same way Catalans were - given two years notice and protection from relegation. Catalans have been pretty much the only success story in the history of SL when it comes to anything remotely like expansion and growth, yet no one at the rfl is smart enough to replicate it with Toulouse. To point to the failure of Crusaders as proof the rfl isn't incompetent is f**king laughable. It only highlights it.
 

yakstorm

First Grade
Messages
5,294
Whilst I would have preferred to see TO already in SL (much like many other posters), at least if the RFL had let them join the Championship they would be competing in a League which features other full time pro clubs.

Instead we have a club which can easily afford the Championship salary cap being forced to run around in a League they look to be leaps and bounds ahead of.

As for the comments of comparing TO with Crusaders. Honestly it is chalk and cheese. Toulouse as a team and region has a long history of Rugby League. Toulouse as a city is the 4th largest in France home to over half a million people.

Crusaders represented both Bridgend and Wrexham. The first was a town which has a history of failing RL clubs, the second no history. The first town has a population of under 50K, the second of just over 60K.

Whether or not the RFL were ever in the right to let Crusaders in (there are plenty of clubs representing small town funded by millionaires in SL both now and in the past) is debatable, but I don't think it is fair comparing Crusaders & TO.
 

miguel de cervantes

First Grade
Messages
7,468
I just don't know what is going to happen with Toulouse when the new board of the FFRXIII comes in.

They want to expand the Elite, but surely they want Toulouse in the mix. How can you run and market a possibly pro-Elite with the limelight always on the Dragons and possibly Toulouse playing in what will always be a higher standard and better attended ESL?

It would be a crime to pull the rug out from under Toulouse as they strive for SL, and the new candidate in what will be pretty much a one horse race, has the support of Gausch so it would be a surprise if they abandon Toulouse and leave the Dragons.

Furthermore, I'm not sure what the RFL would think of the whole situation if they start to be dicked around with. France is getting herself into a bit of a tangle and it is hard to see how they are going to get themselves out of it.
 

langpark

First Grade
Messages
5,867
What a load of shit. Toulouse should have been promoted to SL in exactly the same way Catalans were - given two years notice and protection from relegation. Catalans have been pretty much the only success story in the history of SL when it comes to anything remotely like expansion and growth, yet no one at the rfl is smart enough to replicate it with Toulouse. To point to the failure of Crusaders as proof the rfl isn't incompetent is f**king laughable. It only highlights it.
Not that my opinion of you was ever high, but if that's what you understood from what I wrote then I'm seriously worried about you.

The step up to SL is not an easy one, not only on the pitch and off the pitch as well. They effectively have to quadruple (at a minimum) what they spend on player salaries in order to compete at SL level. There's no guarantee their crowds will rise with it. Sure, they are a much safer gamble than the Crusaders, but for those of you saying putting them in SL tomorrow is a risk-free and consequence-free should it fail, I point you to the Crusaders example.

Those saying they should have started in Championship, that probably was the best sort of compromise that could/should have happened here. It would have been unfortunate for say Oldham (or whichever team that finished second in League One, being robbed of a spot in the Championship) but perhaps for the greater good.
 
Messages
568
im pretty sure i remember reading that Toulouse are a full-time team. Maybe we need a fourth tier for UK clubs (including Ireland) semi-pro/amateur clubs..
 
Messages
14,139
Not that my opinion of you was ever high, but if that's what you understood from what I wrote then I'm seriously worried about you.

The step up to SL is not an easy one, not only on the pitch and off the pitch as well. They effectively have to quadruple (at a minimum) what they spend on player salaries in order to compete at SL level. There's no guarantee their crowds will rise with it. Sure, they are a much safer gamble than the Crusaders, but for those of you saying putting them in SL tomorrow is a risk-free and consequence-free should it fail, I point you to the Crusaders example.

Those saying they should have started in Championship, that probably was the best sort of compromise that could/should have happened here. It would have been unfortunate for say Oldham (or whichever team that finished second in League One, being robbed of a spot in the Championship) but perhaps for the greater good.
You were whinging that people criticise the rfl and used Crusaders as an example. They are a prime example of rfl ineptitude. So your point was ridiculous. Trying to change it to mean something else now won't change that.
 

miguel de cervantes

First Grade
Messages
7,468
What a load of shit. Toulouse should have been promoted to SL in exactly the same way Catalans were - given two years notice and protection from relegation.

That was never going to happen, mostly because of what happened with the first Toulouse effort to join SL, but also because of stadium problems which are ongoing.

Just like in the NRL, the power of the ESL clubs far outweighs that of the RFL and this was the way the clubs wanted things to be done. No way were they going to gift a foreign, distant, costly away trip club a place in the league.

You may well be correct though regarding any prolonged failure to acheive their goal leading to a rapid rug pull.
 

Evil Homer

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
7,178
I just don't know what is going to happen with Toulouse when the new board of the FFRXIII comes in.

They want to expand the Elite, but surely they want Toulouse in the mix. How can you run and market a possibly pro-Elite with the limelight always on the Dragons and possibly Toulouse playing in what will always be a higher standard and better attended ESL?

It would be a crime to pull the rug out from under Toulouse as they strive for SL, and the new candidate in what will be pretty much a one horse race, has the support of Gausch so it would be a surprise if they abandon Toulouse and leave the Dragons.

Furthermore, I'm not sure what the RFL would think of the whole situation if they start to be dicked around with. France is getting herself into a bit of a tangle and it is hard to see how they are going to get themselves out of it.
Not sure why you think the FFR13 have any stake in whether or not Toulouse play in the English structure. That surely is a matter for the RFL and Toulouse.
 
Messages
14,139
That was never going to happen, mostly because of what happened with the first Toulouse effort to join SL, but also because of stadium problems which are ongoing.

Just like in the NRL, the power of the ESL clubs far outweighs that of the RFL and this was the way the clubs wanted things to be done. No way were they going to gift a foreign, distant, costly away trip club a place in the league.

You may well be correct though regarding any prolonged failure to acheive their goal leading to a rapid rug pull.
The point is, they should never have been pushed into the championship in the first place. And as for their ground, if they were given two years to prepare they'd either get it sorted or find another ground. Catalans didn't have a decent ground when they were promoted and had to play at the union ground while theirs was upgraded. Chances are Toulouse won't get public money to do the same until they make SL, except under the current system they'd have a few months to prepare for SL and they'll be behind the eight ball. Of course they're next to no chance of making it to SL under this system so it will all be a waste of time with a sad ending and the poms will just say tough luck you didn't jump through the right hoops, no matter how much it is stacked against them. If the super league clubs and the rfl can't see the only bright spot in an otherwise pathetic history of failure and farce has been the introduction of Catalans, and Toulouse could be the same, it says a lot about how backward the lot of them are.
 

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