Stade Toulousain did not have the quietest days of its season since there was a long round trip to make between France and South Africa. And inevitably, it plays a role in organisms. The fatigue of the outward journey perhaps explains why the Rouge et Noir did not take the offensive bonus against the Sharks. And before facing Leicester this weekend, there was a long return journey to manage.
This whole situation seriously annoys the people of Toulouse, who do not understand how we can see any interest in such matches. Thomas Ramos, for example, at a press conference, did not hide his anger regarding this problem.
We travel one day, three planes, to play 80 minutes, the same in the return direction to go home, we are not the first to have done it but what does it lead to? That's really the question I'm asking.
They are thinking a lot at the moment about protecting the players, but are we protecting the players with trips like that? I don't know.
Ugo Mola, for his part, put himself in the place of the other teams who railed before Toulouse about traveling to South Africa, especially since this trip did a little harm to the bodies of certain players, with “quite a few flu-like illnesses, gastric problems.” “We had a bit of a series of problems but neither more nor less than what the others experienced, except that when you experience it yourself, you find it very painful”added the coach.
Dupont doesn't understand anything
Antoine Dupont was also present at the press conference and what made him tick was the functioning of the Champions Cup with regard to qualification. The four group matches leave no room for error, but with such exhausting travel, it is easy to miss out or not be 100%. Which can affect the results and therefore the qualification.
-At the moment, Toulouse is not first but second in the group. Which implies a less favorable position in the final phase. And in the end there is a lot of confusion in understanding the formula.
The group matches of this Champions Cup are extremely important for the future. When we see the impact that the classification can have on the fact of receiving or not the final phases, even if we do not understand much about the way in which the teams are classified, it is difficult to find the logic. We have to comply and therefore try to score as many points as possible in each match.
What Stade Toulousain thinks of the Champions Cup is perhaps Antoine Dupont who sums it up best: “We don't understand much about it“.
To summarize
The Stade Toulousain internationals and their coach are definitely not very fans of how the Champions Cup works, particularly regarding trips to South Africa. There is annoyance and a lot of misunderstanding.
