With a team with an average age of 22, the Stadium came very close to achieving a resounding feat. Surprising? Not so much…
The figures were enough to make one dizzy or even dizzy: Saturday evening, Stade Toulouse had fielded a starting XV at an average age of 22.4 years with four neophytes – plus four other novices in two Top 14 matches or less – and only one thirty-year-old on the scoresheet. Even before the kick-off, voices were raised from almost everywhere to denounce an impasse imposed by the calendar, a sham of competition and so on. The clash of extremes – at the level of experience, on paper – could indeed have turned into a demonstration, into a spanking. But let it be said, age is just a number; and Stade Toulouse is a unique club.
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Top 14 – Valentin Delpy, Sialei Tolofua, Simon Daroque… Who are these young people from Toulouse close to winning in La Rochelle?
It does not owe its difference solely to the massive presence of internationals in its ranks, the famous Dupont, Ramos, Ntamack and company who make its current glory; the red and black house also has a youthfulness of astonishing richness and maturity. Saturday evening, the Ernest-Wallon bottle class – with fifteen French hopeful champions, no less – pushed its limits by opposing the Rochelais – admittedly very uninspired – in the vast majority of sectors: opposing introduction scrum aside, it was present in the engagement, the duels or even the tactical battle.
There to create memories
Special mention, among the lot, to Valentin Delpy, for his composure against the poles, to Lucas Vignères, for his enthusiasm, embodied by this astonishing charge on Atonio, or to Sialevailea Tolofua, impacting each intervention. Beyond individual behavior, the overall performance of the troop deserves to be praised: “What dominates is a lot of pride and regret at the same time because the guys deserved the draw, praised Jean Bouilhou at the final whistle. But what a state of mind, what self-sacrifice throughout the eighty minutes.” What better example in this area than Nelson Epée, particularly feverish at the start but who constantly struggled in defense – eleven tackles – and who found himself a few meters away from scoring the feat at the end of a crazy race. Deflandre trembled until the end after blowing a first blow, when his favorites had counted ten lengths and three attempts in the middle of the second act. But the visitors did more than just resist: “What I particularly like is that the young people we train at the club are growing well and are capable of countering the best teams”summarized the technician.
Obviously, training every week alongside the gang at Dupont, adopting the same rugby identity and having the Mélé-Kaino duo as mentors, has some benefits: “During the week, we had a lot of help to arrive at the match in good conditions, noted, as if nothing had happened, Valentin Delpy. Afterwards, once on the field, we did what we knew how to do: go on defense, have a very clean conquest (100% on their own launches, Editor’s note)put down our rugby…” All without the shadow of a complex: “We didn’t have too much pressure, we were there to create memories, confirmed Clément Vergé. A draw wouldn’t have been bad but the bonus will still be remembered.” Given the context, it surely has more value than all the others.
