Quote: Chewspaker "Just been speaking to my friend who lives in Toulouse and he says their side will stay full time next season as they have plenty of money available and are looking to be in Super League within four years.
They looked at applying direct to SL but know their stadium needs some work to bring it up to standard , hence starting in Champ 1.
They have won the French league four years on the bounce and will be a force next season'"
Sorry but your mate is wrong about a few things.
They have won the French Championship for the last two years only. Previous winners were Pia (now defunct) and Carcassonne.
They were given Hobsons Choice about SL (quite rightly in my opinion). There is no way the RFL would accept them in the fold straightaway. They knew they wouldhave struggled in the Championship and so took the sensible option to start from the bottom.
Their gound improvements at Les Minimes were approuved by the previous socialist City Council but were put up for 'discussion' or 'renegotiation by the new regime installed a few months after. The City Council are very loatheto invest in such a tenous scheme. I doubt whether LesMinimes will ever see SL rugby instead the possibility of moving to the ground at Colommiers is probably the most realistic option.
The French Elite is poor at the moment with Toulouse the stand out team with the biggest budget. Villeneuve are yet again struggling to find the sponsorship money to carry on though I suppose they will cobble a team together rather than drop down a division.
Saying that, Toulouse look far stronger than most of the C1 teams so I expect a pretty convincing home win when Donny come down just like the previous meeting.