rlfan13

Thanks for the great info sentoffagain2.

I'm a Toulouse fan and am very pleased that Thomas Lacans is joining us. I have only seen him in couple of games and he looks like he is a very lively and elusive player. I've seen him a bit doing short kicks but wanted to ask whether he also has a long kicking game. We at Toulouse don't have many options for long kicking. I think that he will be a great addition to our squad but an all-round kicking game would be a very big bonus.

Is the idea for 4 French teams to be integrated into the British set-up or a more limited scheme where there would be an new window with an Anglo-French competition with 4 French and 4 British teams?

Thanks Atlantisman. That sounds like a great streaming scheme. Maybe with Aussie reach it could, as a byproduct, attract also Aussie interest in some funding for the game. I'm a super optimist! Is your intended audience Australia and NZ in significant part?

It's great that you are investing in the French Elite, Atlantisman. Can you explain what that will involve? How wil the Elite change nest year? Also do you have connections to tap into any Australian money and do you know of any Aussie interest in investing in French R? A not-huge amount of Aussie money could, I'd imagine, make a big difference in say setting up development officers in all sorts of French locations.

This gives a link https://www.rugbyleagueontv.com You can also go to https://viaoccitanie.tv a bit before kick off and you'll get it. Sometimes the site used to say that you are blocked in the UK but it seems to have been working well for a couple of months or more. If it does have a block for non-French access, you can just go to their site(viaoccitanie.tv) a few hours after the match and scroll down and you will always get the full recorded match. Allez TO!

The reception for the women's was good for me on https://viaoccitanie.tv I'm supporting France so I'll watch the men's at 5.00 in viaoccitanie. The Toulouse vs Featherstone game is also on this online tv station too, all with French commentary. All Toulouse home games are on this station.

Thanks, that's great.

Which radio station will it be on and how do I get it?

It does look like Laurent Frayssinous will be able to pick his strongest side with full cooperation from Toulouse -- and it could be a great event, with a big crowd. It would be a shame to discourage supporters by talking this event down. Sylvain Houles, Toulouse coach, said: 'I have spoken to Laurent and he will take any of our players that he chooses. Of course every player wants to play for his country and I fully support that.' He he added 'We will be clear with our players that the priority is the French team.' Cedric Garcia (Director of Sport at Toulouse) and Olivier DuBois (Toulouse Chairman) see the triple header as a great way to attract media attention and to grow the sport. Dominique Baloup, FFRXIII President, has long seen this event as key in the celebration of 90 years of French rugby league and in the promotion of the sport in France. It would be great to make the Toulouse vs Featherstone match as French as possible, with Toulouse using their dual reg with Catalans to bolster their squad. This could be a very special day for French rugby league. It would also be great to build the game up as much as possible and to hear the French clubs repeat, and repeat, and repeat as early as possible and as publicly as possible that all players will be available for French and that they can't wait to get stuck into this challenge.

Thanks Cliff for your wonderful coverage of the game in France. I think that I've read every entry that you have ever done in Treiziste Diary and I've enjoyed them all. TD fired my enthusiasm for the game in France, and I've now got a wonderful group of RL friends from villages around the Carcassonee area. I hope that you will breakout of semi-retirement with many special essays in the future. Happy semi-retirement!

Thanks for this info. As you say, it's great news that Gigot and Barthau will be dual-registered with TO. This could make the rest of the season's TO matches very interesting--and, I hope, open up the play-offs.