he came close to being a hit

To spare his executives before heading to South Africa for the third day of the Champions Cup, Ugo Mola decided to carry out a very large staff review on the La Rochelle pitch. Result, four neophytes, an average age of 22.4 years and a Cyril Baille who returned to the lawns with the costume of dad and the only thirty-year-old wearing the Stade Toulousain jersey.

While they were promised hell, the young people from Toulouse matched the Maritimes during a tense meeting before giving in in the last breaths. A match which once again confirms the resource of the workforce of the pink city which even offered itself a record to start the year.

Record for Toulouse: almost a box full of Jiff

Of the 23 players checked on the match sheet, the Toulouse staff lined up 22 Jiff. The highest total, all clubs combined, since the start of the season. The 21-year-old Argentinian second row, Efrain Elias, was therefore the only one not to have the precious training key.

Before this meeting, it was already Stade Toulousain which held this record with 21 Jiff during the victory at Racing 92 on November 30. With 20 players from the French team, Bordeaux-Bègles, during the first day, started the season strong against a Stade Français which also had 20 Jiff for its trip to Toulouse during Boxing Day.

As a reminder, according to the regulations of the National Rugby League, to be a Jiff, a player must spend at least three seasons in a training center approved by the Ministry of Sports or be licensed to the French Rugby Federation (FFR) for at least five seasons before he turns 23.

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