Since the announcement of this game against the mighty Warrington Wolves last summer, the Toulouse Olympique coaching staff and its players have targeted this encounter as one of their main goals of the season. A tremendous opportunity for the ‘TO’ (as the Club is called) to get a glimpse of its dream, the Super League.
Here we are now, just a few hours away from this match, and the entire Club is very excited about it, including the 100 fans who will travel with the team in a private Airbus A320 plane.
For this trip, Sylvain HOULES, Toulouse Head Coach, a former Super League player himself (with Wakefield, Huddersfield and the London Broncos), will rely on a strong 19-man squad, with 15 players from the team that won the ‘double’ last season (French Championship and Cup) and 8 internationals. With an average of 24 year-old, the Toulouse outfit should have a bright future ahead.
However, there are two important injuries in the French Champions side, with the inspiring half back Johnathon FORD – former Sydney Roosters and Cook Island International – out for this game (bruised calf) and young French talent, Arthur GONZALEZ-TRIQUE, who ruptured his right knee ACL at the beginning of the season.
The team: Tony MAUREL / Kuni MINGA / Bastien ADER / Florian QUINTILLA / Greg WHITE / Anthony MARION / Mark KHEIRALLAH / Maxime PUECH / Kane BENTLEY / Samy MASSELOT / Sébastien PLANAS © / Aaron WOOD / Kane BENTLEY.
Subs: Mourad KRIOUACHE, Jérôme GOUT, Clément BOYER, Valentin YESA, Danny HULME, Cyril MOLINER.
