The big problem will be if they finish in the bottom 2

That will really p155 some fans off

And at the moment you would have to say there is a real chance they will

Also it would seem they have upset the clubs in France if they didn't allow them to enter the Lord Derby cup

Bad Idea

Hello forum , been a while since my last posting vis a vis toulouse, let me inform you all on whats going on this side of the channel.

Gilles dumas their coach has not a great coaching record, highly unliked by most of the players that have played under him (especially in the french side) he was a cheap option and his assistant is julien gerin, a player from st gaudens that has played a few matches for the french side but by no means is a good visionary product, the choice has been ridiculed in many circles and as they are two good friends i feel his imput will be some what silenced, A qualified cone pikeruppera is all he`ll be there.

They had some quality french players unavailable because of work commitments, so they should be a lot better at home, the players that work were offered paltry fulltime contracts and laughed at the amount being offered and kept their jobs. But on the whole the squad is weak , inexperienced and typical of any french rugby league side, some good frenchies,some good imports and lots of question marks on the rest , if the australians get injured it could be a very long year indeed.

They have one player who has never even played before , he`s a handballer , a big unit but their hoping he can pass with two hands.

Now i would love to be able to say , yes they will get a lot better, yes they will dispute a final but the reality in france is that the resources aren`t there, the catalans are ok but there are far to many australians there, in this weeks team there are 7 aussies in it, carlaw and ryles are out but would normally be in so that would make 9. I can tell you that the french catalan supportes are already seriously bagging, walters, perry and bell,

Affaire a suivre.

All of this confirming the fears that no real thought has been put into the decisions made by the RFL.

Interessant ca, d'apres ce que j'ai lu les fans Francais etaient contemps avec le choix de Walters, Bell, Perry et - grande surprise - Bird. Je croyais que ce n'etais que le contingent sang-et-or(.net) qui n'etais pas contemp.

Avec la possibilite d'utiliser des Juniors Catalans et UTC le TO devrais etre pas si mal, et le choix d'entraineur ne peut pas etre aussi mauvais que le choix pour l'equipe nationalle.

Thought Richard Lewis would have been at the game.After all, it was a bit of an occassion with it being the first championship game of the season live on SKY tv and Toulouse making their debut in the British competition.

And in what way is this different to other RL sides generally?

To take any journey you have to take the first step.

I don't expect Toulouse to be any great shakes initially but over time.

It's generally called training/apprenticeship where you learn the skills required and develop.

The trouble is now we have a WANT IT NOW mentallity in all aspects of life, not just RL and as a nation we seem to be getting more impatient.

Give them time, 1 match dosn't prove anything except they lost.

Forgetting to mention Leeds being hammered by Wigan and Offiah in particular or don't you go back that far.

Toulouse have recruited poorly.

They should have found a couple more quality French forwards with SL experience, such as Adel Fellous.

Of the forwards only Griffi, Anselme and Gay are up to the required standard.

They also need a top class Aussie or Kiwi playmaker.

What? Surely you mean they need The Sublime Maxime Greseque!

Big Fish, Small Pond.... he wouldnt sign.

No I think you'll find they wanted was his signature but he insisted on simply writing "The Sublime"

This aint the frenchie forum
Translation for us thickies when it comes to French?

well clearly i didnt go back that far, seeing as how i used examples all from the last 5 years or so, i thought going back a bit further would have detracted from the point,

hey, maybe we should merge this with quins wire thread, and you can argue that we should drop teams from lancs/cheshire because they have clearly proved that the players produced in lancs/cheshire arent of conference quality blah blah blah,

after all you wouldnt want to be shown up as a hypocrite again would you?

im excited to see what your attempt at a witticism is this time, see if you can carry on your streak of idiocy

They should act as the feeder club for Les Cats and use any fringe first teamers that don't make the Les Cats starting 17. This coupled with picking up the best of the rest French players should make them competitive. You have to say though that they clearly do not have the financial backing at this time and that will need to be as big a part of their development as developing decent French players.

Blimey - Smokey makes a rare sensible posting and still gets abuse. I've seen Widnes nil most of the current pro clubs, including Leeds at Headingley and Saints at Knowsley Road, yet those clubs have somehow survived the experience.

Nobody who'd seen the two squads play would've have expected T.O to be competitive in this match (and thanks to the bookies for their generous odds on the game). I posted a couple of months back that their squad didn't look strong enough and since then their pre-season preparation has been woeful.

Obviously, they will improve - just sorting out the left side defence will make a big difference and playing at home will be a big help, plus hopefully strengthening when the LER season finishes. But the worrying part is that this was their first choice 17 and there is no strength in depth. If key players pick up injuries, they could struggle even worse than this.

Hope for a good crowd and a good result for the first home game next week against Sheffield.