1 Oct: League 1 Play-Off Final: Toulouse v Barrow KO 3pm

[morty]

totally agree mate the winner of the league should be promoted automatically

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

The ref in the Toulouse v Hornets game disallowed three Hornets tries that would have been allowed in Super League.

[DEANO]

totally agree mate the winner of the league should be promoted automatically

how on earth can you promote anyone when you don't play everyone home and away

[morty]

 

how on earth can you promote anyone when you don't play everyone home and away

 

Well that's another issue as you should play everyone home and away ... simples

[alba]

Only the rfl could complicate what could be a simple system, ie everybody plays each team home and away, and top team goes up.

[Guest]

Only the rfl could complicate what could be a simple system, ie everybody plays each team home and away, and top team goes up.

But that's too boring and square. The RFL have it right with their complex and baffling system which is more fun and exciting.

[Fabou]

Well I read that the TO was already waiting Rochdale next season... i do not see the point with this rivalry, excpecially if Rochdale keep playing the way they play (and if the referee allows it...). RL in France must be focused on producing a great and entertaining show, if not the press and their RU journalists will kill our sport in 3 weeks. 

 

Rochdale dirty style will hurt the RL development in France, especially if every teams start to imitate it with the help of te referee...

 

Rivalry is good for the game, and i hope that the TO will look for a great rivalry against London or Bradford for example and improve from there, instead of Rochdale..

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Well I read that the TO was already waiting Rochdale next season... i do not see the point with this rivalry, excpecially if Rochdale keep playing the way they play (and if the referee allows it...). RL in France must be focused on producing a great and entertaining show, if not the press and their RU journalists will kill our sport in 3 weeks. 

 

Rochdale dirty style will hurt the RL development in France, especially if every teams start to imitate it with the help of te referee...

 

Rivalry is good for the game, and i hope that the TO will look for a great rivalry against London or Bradford for example and improve from there, instead of Rochdale..

How many of your guys had to go off with injuries caused by Hornets " Dirty " play ?

We had several players injured by spear tackles, high shots etc.

I've seen the Hornets v Toulouse home game and I've seen the Final. Toulouse were OK while they were winning, the minute they went behind the rough stuff started.

[audois]

I hope TO don't get promoted next year as I feel it would be too soon....aka crusaders...

If cru (who didn't win promotion) had a couple of years in championship and the Welsh lads came through prior to SL it would have been a different story..

TO need organic continued growth....sort out stadium and consolidate the reserves/juniors...

4 year plan sounds about right...2-3 in championship!

 

Maybe Toulouse in 2016 were under greater pressure. They needed that first promotion straight away. Will a top six place be their goal next term? Cannot quite remember their placings between 2009-11 when last in the Championship. Dont think they featured in the top half. Houles quoted as being content with present players and not looking for so-called marque recruitments. They are a youngish out-fit - what av age 23 yrs? They have a degree of continuity too. Skipper Planas and coach Houles were  there last time out - Ford and Kheirallah also part of the team which won the Elite 1 titles back-to-back. Should be fascinating to see how they go in 2017.

[Hornetto]

Well I read that the TO was already waiting Rochdale next season... i do not see the point with this rivalry, excpecially if Rochdale keep playing the way they play (and if the referee allows it...). RL in France must be focused on producing a great and entertaining show, if not the press and their RU journalists will kill our sport in 3 weeks. 

 

Rochdale dirty style will hurt the RL development in France, especially if every teams start to imitate it with the help of te referee...

 

Rivalry is good for the game, and i hope that the TO will look for a great rivalry against London or Bradford for example and improve from there, instead of Rochdale..

 

You gotta love a loser who carries a grudge.

[GeordieSaint]

You gotta love a loser who carries a grudge.

 

Your insistence on calling Toulouse TOXIIC doesn't reflect particularly well on you either. 

[JonM]

Cannot quite remember their placings between 2009-11 when last in the Championship. Dont think they featured in the top half.

 

10th out of 11 in their first season (Doncaster were bottom after going into administration), 8th out of 11 in 2010, 10th out of 11 in 2011 (avoided bottom by virtue of Barrow having all of their competition points deducted.) 

 

Hornets fans might like to reflect on the fact that quite a few coaches this season have had a moan about Hornets style of play, not just Toulouse. Don't think the rough stuff will cut it in the championship. 

 

Both teams bottom half next season I'd say.

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

I have enjoyed reading about a fairly successful weekend for Toulouse Olympique, especially on Saturday, when there were good showings by their U7, two U9, two U11, and U13 teams.  The 'minimes', 'cadets' and junior reserves were also in action.  On Sunday, in the Elite leagues, it was the turn of the junior 1st team and the adult reserves (Broncos).

 

I cannot really see Toulouse deserving a place in the championship, let alone SL, until they show some effort in bringing on young players....

[oiseau]

Yep, the Academy system at Toulouse  has been an abject failure.

[DoubleD]

Yep, the Academy system at Toulouse has been an abject failure.

Not a patch on Rochdale's

[Fabou]

Yep, the Academy system at Toulouse  has been an abject failure.

 

can you develop why?

[GeordieSaint]

can you develop why?

Sarcasm...

[Fabou]

You gotta love a loser who carries a grudge.

 

well you are a person on this forum that has kept trolling against the french from the beginning, you got the victory (congrats Rochdale for that, that was certainly ugly but you got it) so you keep trolling... good for you, and it works, i am so upset !! 

 

I personnaly admit without a problem that Toulouse will start the real things next year, and I am looking forward to see where they will be after several matches, especially after the first strong defeats. I know that Toulouse is a long way from the standard of the SL/NRL and you can get better only playing against better team... what was not the case this year in League One... being rival with Rochdale... i dont see the point. there is no grudge.

[DEANO]

 

 

Well that's another issue as you should play everyone home and away ... simples

how can a system be right that can allow a team to play 3 home matches against the same team but none away

[oiseau]

how can a system be right that can allow a team to play 3 home matches against the same team but none away

Obviously yet another fiendish plot by those pesky froggies to cheat their way to promotion.

[DEANO]

So it would seem

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

how can a system be right that can allow a team to play 3 home matches against the same team but none away

 

I think the answer, Deano, is that we are talking about different phases of the competition. 

 

Phase one involves playing each other team in the division once; so randomly, team A might play team B at home.  Then in the next phase, which is the super eights for that division, teams play the other seven once - again, some at home and some away.  So, assuming teams A and B have both qualified for this stage, team A could again be at home to team B; it is where they finished the earlier phase that determines who plays whom at home.  In that sense, it is, again, random.  Who progresses to the final, knock-out phase is not determined by RFL administrators, but by how the teams performed in the super 8's.  So again, it is effectively random.  If, suddenly, the RFL arbitrarily said that some team had to forego home advantage because they had already played a particular team twice at home and couldn't do so a third time, then they would - quite rightly, I would suggest - be accused of twisting things or making them up as they go along.  So three home times for team A against team B, and none in reverse, is an arithmetic possibility, and, in the context of the competition as devised, quite reasonable.

 

My italics highlights the point of valid debate.  You cannot promote teams on the basis of an 'imbalanced' league programme; you have previously made that point on here, and I agree with you.  However, could time have been found to play 28 league fixtures - in other words, a 'pure' league competition of playing each team at home and away?  Perhaps!  Then you could have had straight promotion, and Toulouse Olympique would no doubt have been straight up, without any play-off nonsense, which I am sure you would agree is all for the good of the game, in the greater scheme of things!

[DEANO]

Well I can tell you if you get to the final you could play 23 games plus the silly cup games equals anothe 4 if you get to the final. That makes 27 which is near enough 28

[oiseau]

I think the answer, Deano, is that we are talking about different phases of the competition. 

 

Phase one involves playing each other team in the division once; so randomly, team A might play team B at home.  Then in the next phase, which is the super eights for that division, teams play the other seven once - again, some at home and some away.  So, assuming teams A and B have both qualified for this stage, team A could again be at home to team B; it is where they finished the earlier phase that determines who plays whom at home.  In that sense, it is, again, random.  Who progresses to the final, knock-out phase is not determined by RFL administrators, but by how the teams performed in the super 8's.  So again, it is effectively random.  If, suddenly, the RFL arbitrarily said that some team had to forego home advantage because they had already played a particular team twice at home and couldn't do so a third time, then they would - quite rightly, I would suggest - be accused of twisting things or making them up as they go along.  So three home times for team A against team B, and none in reverse, is an arithmetic possibility, and, in the context of the competition as devised, quite reasonable.

 

My italics highlights the point of valid debate.  You cannot promote teams on the basis of an 'imbalanced' league programme; you have previously made that point on here, and I agree with you.  However, could time have been found to play 28 league fixtures - in other words, a 'pure' league competition of playing each team at home and away?  Perhaps!  Then you could have had straight promotion, and Toulouse Olympique would no doubt have been straight up, without any play-off nonsense, which I am sure you would agree is all for the good of the game, in the greater scheme of things!

Yeah but, how can it be 'good for the game ' if Toulouse and the other 'better' teams in C1 hammer the lesser teams  by 50+ points home and away ?   And what would be the point of Toulouse or whoever ending up after 28 league games with a points difference of over 1000 points more than these teams ?  At least the play-off system made for a more exciting finish than a straight one and two place automatic promotion.