the essential
The Haut-Garonne rugby players hope to offer, at the Stadium, a festive evening to their supporters this Sunday, December 29 (9:05 p.m., 13th day) during the reception of the Parisian team, the worst away team so far.
On the Stade Toulousain side, the message is quite clear. By starting this Sunday, December 29 in the evening against the Stade Français (9:05 p.m., 13th day) its internationals Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, François Cros and even Thomas Ramos, the “red and black” intend to end this glorious year 2024 on a good note and , why not, a nice box.
In Toulouse, losing is not really an option, and the Stade has already burned a joker this season (against Bordeaux-Bègles at Ernest-Wallon on September 29, 16-12), so there is no question of the same mishap happens again, warned defense coach Laurent Thuéry. And as the Haut-Garonnais “have the chance to be able to rotate, because (they) are well classified” as Romain Ntamack recalled, they will arrive this Sunday evening on the Stadium lawn with a team not only very competitive, but also very fresh. Of the fifteen players started this Sunday evening, only Blair Kinghorn started the match in Lyon last weekend, which ended in the first draw of the season in the Top 14 (17-17).
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“We have a relatively large group, we will draw from its entirety. We need players who are alert, as we saw in Lyon; even if it is not perfect it is always positive to come back with points from there, we had been losing for six years,” recalled Thuéry. Those who will start this Sunday evening, like Antoine Dupont, who will celebrate his third start of the season in the Top 14, should therefore be under the pedal after having cut off during the holidays, for ten days for some including the Toulouse captain.
“Succeeding in juggling freshness and performance, which is the priority”
If “we must succeed in juggling freshness and performance, which is the number 1 priority” as Laurent Thuéry points out, Stade Toulousain clearly succeeds in its number.
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Right in the middle of a very dense block of ten matches which started on November 23 in Perpignan and will end on January 25 in Montpellier, the “red and black” are also advancing towards two perilous trips, to La Rochelle the weekend next end then to Durban to challenge the Sharks in the Champions Cup on January 11.
An extremely long journey for Dupont and his teammates who, over a series of five matches (Exeter, Lyon, Stade Français, La Rochelle, Sharks), will only have hosted once in the Pink City. It's this Sunday, it's at the Stadium against Stade Français, the worst away team in the championship, and who also rotated their team but… in the opposite direction to Stade Toulousain.
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Paris does not seem to have made its trip to Toulouse its priority a week before hosting Bordeaux-Bègles; a UBB that Toulouse could overtake this Sunday to take sole control of the Top 14. While reminding, in front of nearly 33,000 spectators, that there is only one Stadium, the one which has achieved a new double last June and on the occasion of putting a nice end to this brilliant year. All this deserved to bring out the armada.
The trend: Toulouse 80%-St. French 20%
DSAS
