Rugby is a sport that is played 15 against 15 and in the end, it is (almost always) Toulouse who wins. This adage, stolen from footballer Gary Lineker and adapted to Toulouse's incredible success, applies perfectly to Stade Toulousain in recent years. After concluding the year 2024 with a 38-23 victory against Stade Français, the Rouge et Noir are moving towards 2025 with the desire to make their mark even more on the history of French rugby.
A challenge worthy of a squad which does not lack talent after a masterful year, punctuated by a new French champion title, the twenty-third, and a sixth European coronation. All this barely three years after the Top 14-European Cup double in 2021. A track record which commands respect for a club which continues to push its own limits. Leading the Top 14 at half-time of the championship and still undefeated in the Champions Cup, Toulouse started the 2024-2025 season as they had finished the previous one.
This team has a lot of appetite
With five titles in four years (three championships and two European Cups), the people of Toulouse seem to find additional motivation each year to continue their harvest. For this, they can count on their coach, Ugo Mola, at the club since 2015, and never short of a good word to tickle his players and whet their appetite for the title a little more. “This team has a lot of appetite, it wants to mark its history and its time at Stade Toulousain. For the moment, it's not bad, but they have not yet marked the history of the club like certain generations” he explained after his men's victory against Leinster last May.
A mantra taken up at the end of last season by Thomas Ramos, back of the French XV and undisputed leader of Toulouse for many seasons: “We are a group that wants to have fun on the pitch. We want to mark the history of our club and our sport. But we still have a way to go. This is what motivates us every day.”
Toulouse wants to export to South Africa
While Stade Toulousain will make two trips, to La Rochelle in the Top 14 then to Durban on the Sharks' pitch in the Champions Cup to start the year 2025, the players from the pink city want to show that they remain a tone above above the competition. Led by Antoine Dupont who concluded 2024 with five trophies and seven individual distinctions, the Toulouse residents want to make this first trip in their history to South Africa the first great moment of their season. Ugo Mola's men have marked this date of January 11 on the calendar for a long time. In order to prove to everyone that their success can also be exported to the four corners of the world.
Thomas Ramos (Stade Toulousain) against Vannes in Top 14, September 8, 2024
Credit: Imago
But then who could prevent the Rouge et Noir from reaping another title in 2025? “To beat Toulouse, you have to be daring, take chances… and pray too” said Bordeaux manager Yannick Bru ironically before the championship final in June. Prayers which clearly were not enough for UBB, scattered like a puzzle 59-3 at the end of the 2023-2024 Top 14 season.
If since the start of the season, UBB, Castres and Bayonne have found the recipe to bring down the reigning French champion, it is in this second half of the season, when the road will rise, that the Haut- Garonnais will be difficult to dislodge. “There are times when we are brilliant, and sometimes when we pedal a little next to the bike” estimated Ugo Mola after his team's defeat in Castres. For the moment, in light of the start of a new year, Toulouse cycling seems stable and more unstoppable than ever.
