Toulouse V Leeds

[DIEHARD]

Leeds roll onward. Toulouse gain a lot of respect. They will be part of the Super League one day.

It is nearly impossible for part timers to match it with pros. Something we need to work on, if we ever want a truly competitive World Cup.

It has been fun guys, let's do it again1 Good night!

 

[Big Bunny]

Strong effort by Toulouse, they can hold their heads high. Pissweak effort by the Leeds fans and rugby league supporters in general though, a crowd of 10,000 for the semi final of the oldest and greatest rugby league tournament on earth is just terrible.

 

[carlnz]

Lets not forget people:

Leeds are the World Champions (going on recent records), against a team of amatures.
Sevral Super League clubs have been belted so much worse by Leeds..

 

[elBandido]

They ran out of steam in the second half but a tremendous first 40 minutes from the part timers

If Les Catalans do well next season it should only be a matter of time before they're a Superleague outfit

 

[DIEHARD]

If Les Catalans do well next season it should only be a matter of time before they're a Superleague outfit

They should still be alive in this year's challenge cup, they were robbed!

 

[bartman]

Good effort, that first half was a real tough contest.

I think there are five non-French players in the 17 that played, pretty much all of the rest are all amateurs who hold day jobs (like policeman, postie, builders etc). If they were full-time and had the matching full-time fitness, they would have giving it a shake.

That's what it's about, building and developing league in countries so that in time there more domestic competitions can be part-time professional and eventually maybe even full-time/elite.

 

[elBandido]

a crowd of 10,000 for the semi final of the oldest and greatest rugby league tournament on earth is just terrible.

It's a shame, it's a catch 22 situation, the fact that it's live on national tv is great for the game but that also means fewer people attend which looks bad.

 

[bartman]

Maximum crowd could only have been 16-18,000 in the chosen venue.

Today's crowd would still have been that if the game was between two clubs with away followings able to get there easily. The cameras did a good job of showing the ground looking "full" - until the lap of honour...

 

[carlnz]

one side of the Grand Stand was closed, hoever the rest was probaly 75% full from what it looked like on Tv

 

[Sun_Down]

Ah, what a brave team Toulouse is, I have gained a lot of respect for the club, what an effort! The first half was truely inspiring, though its only logical that the French team would eventually be outplayed...Still, they can be proud, very proud, they matched it with the Champions of the World, a huge effort, considering they are a small French club...Great stuff Toulouse!!

...Have UTC signed any of these guys? How many will be playing for France?

 

[BatiFan]

From what I limited knowledge I have of the Toulouse team, both their centres are extremely good players (Estabanez and Couttier) and that Raguin is a good player in the forwards along with Cedric Gay (both of whom have played for France over the last few years). I personally would love to see these 4 players signed by Catalan, or even other Super League clubs. If they went to other SL clubs it would be great to have a clause put into their contracts to say that if Toulouse get a SL team over the next few years that they are free to go back and play for them.

Ultimately the more French players playing throughout SL the better it will be for the French national team. Much like the the fact that their are still plenty of other Kiwi players playing for teams other than the Warriors.

Viva le Toulouse and rugby treize