With Josh Lewis gone, Clément Bienès sacked and one first-team regular on his way to Carcassonne RU, the future of Toulouse in the Championship is far from secure. In the first article on this matter, Mark H looks at the most visible aspect of the rise and fall - the [url=http://www.sang-et-or.net/readarticle.php?article_id=880on-field situation[/url

Following on from that, let's look at [url=http://www.sang-et-or.net/readarticle.php?article_id=883where we go[/url should Toulouse not be the guys next season

Having a French club in the semi-pro Championship doesn't really make sense. There is already a semi-pro league for French players to play in, and while the Championship is probably a step up in standard, it's no step up in terms of developing the infrastructure of the club which is the most important thing in preparing for transition from a part-time league to a full-time one. I hope TO go back to the LER and aren't replaced.

I might be naive here but for me the objective of Toulouse is to develop French players in a slightly different region of the south to Dragons by mixing in quality imports.

Could they have been chasing the dream of Superleague too strongly (as they have to win a Championship Grand Final or cup competition to apply) and got that balance incorrect.

I agree. I think the best thing Toulouse can do is go back to the LER and try to apply for super league from there.

I originally thought that while Toulouse were in the championship it would serve as a stepping stone for more players from the Dragons.

Squad players like Touxagas for increased match fitness or perhaps someone like Duport coming back after the injury lay off.

But it doesn't seem to have happened that way, there has been the odd player here and there but it isn't the stepping stone I expected it to be.

I suppose i saw it through rose tinted glasses too but I didn't see the club struggling in this way, I genuinely believed and still believe there is a sufficient number of French players of championship standard.

One one hand I wouldn't like to see Toulouse return to the LER as it probably wouldn't increase the small profile of the competition in any way.

It may help Toulouse in the short term but I don't think a return to France would help their SL licence ambitions in the long term.

TOX111 need to return the LER and win the league and cup.Sack the coach asap.

They need to rebuild the crowd base.
Enter the challenge cup and even play friendlies against championship sides.
The Fede want them in Superleague for 2015.Time enough to do the necessary.

Thanks for the site John , this is my first post but have followed French RL for a long time.

There are. There's virtually an entire league of them, give or take. That's the problem. There's no incentive for good LER players to play in the Championship because it's no step up from where they already are. Coupled with the constant traveling, I would say that to be honest playing for TO would probably be a less attractive option than staying in the LER for most players. If TO were running a full time squad it would be a different story, but at the moment there's no point in them being in the Championship. With hindsight it was a stupid decision to put them in the competition in the first place. TO should return to the LER, and that league should be billed as an equivalent to the Championship.

I think that since FCL WANT to be in the Championship, they should have a go at it. Saying that a French club can't work in the Championship is about as accurate as saying that PSG proves that a French club won't work in SL. For whatever reason TO have not done it, they have lacked ambition in signing players, not managed a good deal in loan signings from the dragons and have a pish-poor coach. If they could sort it out next year they are still a better choice than FCL, since they have a better long-term potential for growth. But if they can't sort it out sharpish, then FCL are the logical choice.

But thats just it Headsy, the LER is not equivalent standard to the Championship, your having your self on thinking that, the aude three, possibly Pia but after that your scratching about for any real quality or professionalism.

Sides like Carpentras or Lyon in their day have travelled with less than 17 on occasions over the last few years, thats not championship standard, its not even NCL standard.

For me there lies the problem and for me thats why a return to the LER would be a step backwards.

I would agree though there is little incentive for overseas players in regard to joining TO.
Most overseas players probably go to France for an easy time and some good cash.
N Wynn as a case in point, good player, looked great in the Champ, moved to Lezignan and instead of fortnightly trips to the north of England he now has an afternoon on a coach before a nice stroll against what is basically an amateur team in the LER.

Regarding French players I would have thought, since enough people think the country has players coming out of their ears there would be no shortage of lads wanting to test themselves at a higher level and possibly win a SL contract with the Dragons.

I agree B, if Toulouse finish bottom and have made no effort to change anything about their failing fortunes maybe Lezignan would be a good option.

Everybody talks of Lezignan being too small but perhaps a small town side would be more popular, e.g when a famous old name like Featherstone come to FCL would that be better received than in a huge city like Toulouse.

I just dont see a long term future for FCL alone above the championship, thats all

I'm not suggesting LER is equivalent standard to the Championship across the board, on the whole it's clear the Championship is a stronger league, although the best teams in the LER could compete with any in the Championship. The point is that both are semi-pro leagues. Toulouse moving to the Championship wasn't a step up, it was a sideways move. You talk about players signing for Toulouse to try and win SL contracts, but I can't think of a single player that's been signed from Toulouse to the Dragons, aside from Duport who was wrongly released in the first place. Young players who want to play for the Dragons will surely sign for St Esteve in the LER. Playing in the Championship isn't going to improve players any more than playing in the LER would, neither are elite levels of competition.

Having Toulouse in the Championship was doomed to failure from the start IMO, and persisting with it could cripple the club. Equally, if another club such as Lezignan replaced them, that would equally fail for the same reasons. If these were amateur clubs moving into a semi-pro environment then it would be a different story, but transferring a club from a semi-pro league to another semi-pro league where costs are far, far greater doesn't make any sense at all IMO.

Not long-term, but short to medium term definitely. While I agree with the point about FCL long-term, could the same argument not be applied to Widnes, Fax, Wakey or Cas?

Yes in that they will probably never win the league or be a major contender.

But what I would say most of those clubs could get crowds in excess of the population of Lezignan, and are i suppose bigger, erm, small towns that just make up the comp.

I just think that the big city thing is a good thing in Toulouse favour over Lezignan and the other clubs in the LER.

It's not usually been that way IIRC most LER sides do ok and I would say more often than not beat C1 teams in the challenge cup. When they come up against Championship teams they get beat.

The championship is a far higher standard than the LER to suggest otherwise is nonsense. FCL Carcassone Limoux and Pia could maybe give odd teams a game but other than that, your struggling.



Well, sadly there arent too many young player coming through UTC for the dragons at the moment either, is that indicitive of the lack of good young French players, we would think not, but perhaps they are not quite up to the standard for the Dragons first team yet.

IMO these players could play for ten years in the LER for UTC and no-one would bat an eyelid, some might get lucky when a few injuries come round, but on the whole they will remain very average in the LER.

A loan or a dual reg at Toulouse might help them catch the eye a bit more, in a league of a much higher standard.



It's Irrelevant whether they are elite levels of competition, an amateur playing NWC would improve as a player if he played at NCL, it stands to reason.




I suppose Toulouse has failed in many ways, and I probably agree FCL wouldn't offer us much more on the field and much less off the field, but if another french club, hopefully Toulouse, was given a SL license I would maybe like to see FCL join the Championship after that.



The LER clubs we are talking about here are around about top end of C1 and bottom of the Champ at best, the other clubs are just basically amateurs.

with a half decent coach (Dumas took the job cos' nobody else wanted it due to the pittance being paid by Carlos) TO13 with this squad could easily be a top four Championship side
Dumas is clueless - any blame must rest on his shoulders through his total inadequacy to coach at this level.

TO13 can work at Championship level - it's not rocket science,just basic coaching and professionalism with Leigh the perfect example on how a club can be turned around with these two fundamentals in place.