the essential
Received 2/12. The men from the Pink City have only won twice during their twelve visits to Marseille. But tonight, the stakes will not be comparable.
If we simply interpret the raw results experienced by the Toulouse club in the Marseille stadium, there is no debate possible. Stade Toulousain is not successful on the Vélodrome pitch and that is an understatement.
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But it is appropriate to take a little perspective on the context of the Stade defeats in the Phocaean city. We recap. The “red and black” have played no less than 12 matches on the OM pitch, for only two victories. They faced Toulon there 10 times and also traveled there twice in the Top 14 semi-finals.
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Final Stade Toulousain – Union Bordeaux-Bègles: Boniface, Graou, Abadie, Miquel… the four former SU Agen who dream of Brennus
The first was lost, it was in 2007, against Clermont (20-15) but the second against the same opponent was won hands down (read below). Facing Toulon during the Top 14 regular season, however, is a different story.
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Stade Toulousain – Bordeaux-Bègles Final: “No one compares to Dupont…” How Maxime Lucu approaches his duel with Toulousain
The “red and black” have only won once in ten confrontations during relocated matches against RC Toulon. It was in 2015, and the Stade was still coached by Guy Novès. But like this season’s confrontation (April 20, 20-19), Toulouse rarely travel to Marseille with the big armada.
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Toulousain-Bordeaux-Bègles Stadium Final: why is the Vélodrome a cursed stadium for Antoine Dupont?
Why? Quite simply because this match very often falls – coincidence of the calendar or not – at the time of the big European Cup matches that Stade Toulousain considers a priority. So this season, all the key players had rested and only Thomas Ramos, back from injury, was in the line-up at kick-off. This Friday, Toulouse will not need to be asked twice to secure a third victory on this pitch that is so unwelcoming to them.
THE 2 TOULOUSE VICTORY
Stade Toulousain 29 – Clermont 6 (Top 14 semi-final – 2011)
That evening, the “red and black” had crushed the reigning French champion. A score without appeal and a revenge of the 2007 match where the Clermontois had won in this same Vélodrome stadium. If the spectators were slow to fill the stands – the fault of monstrous traffic jams in the Phocaean city that evening – two tries from the unique Rupeni Caucaunibuca embellished by an imperturbable David Skrella in front of the posts (100% success) including a 52-meter penalty in the corner allowed the Toulousains to stay afloat on the edge of the Mediterranean. A week later, they won their 18th Bouclier de Brennus against Montpellier (15-10).
RC Toulon 24 – Stade Toulousain 34 (Top 14, J21 – 2015)
The only victory for Toulouse against Toulon at the Vélodrome also marks a historic record for the Marseillaise enclosure. This is quite simply an attendance record for a rugby match with 64,819 spectators in the stands. On the field, Guy Novès’ men showed impressive strength of character to win even though they were trailing by 11 points at half-time. Untenable that evening, Maxime Médard notably scored a double, while Jean-Marc Doussain and Jano Vermaak also had their try. Since that evening in March 2015, Toulouse have lost in their four trips to the Marseille city.
