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Toulouse New Signings


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Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

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8 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

The problem that Toulouse have is that all of their quota spots are filled, so they can only sign European born players or players that have a European passport. But yeah, agreed the spine of the team is good but I felt like they needed a couple of big signings in the pack, just to add some freshness and youthfulness. They have a few players in the pack that are pushing on age wise

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32 minutes ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

Of making a mess of recruiting, due to existing contracts.

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1 hour ago, Leonard said:

Shame. Was hoping they might have gone for one big name in the pack. 

However, makes sense longer term for financial stability.

No point being Leigh and just recycling the same London and Toronto cast offs. 

Like Matty Russell or Cunningham? I agree, good job they've avoided those types of player.

Really disappointed with this squad, it needed refreshing with a big name or two, given it's an old squad, they'll probably be worse than last season. Home form going to be key.

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39 minutes ago, Tex Evans Thigh said:

Like Matty Russell or Cunningham? I agree, good job they've avoided those types of player.

Really disappointed with this squad, it needed refreshing with a big name or two, given it's an old squad, they'll probably be worse than last season. Home form going to be key.

Or Gigot, or Springer....

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That squad looks considerably weaker than Leigh's from 2021. They might pick up the odd win at home against other relegation strugglers like Salford but I can see quite a few really heavy defeats for them in 2022 and a quick relegation to the Championship

St.Helens - The Home of record breaking Rugby Champions

 

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That’s certainly a bottom 4 squad but people underestimate what a good coach can do as well as home advantage in Toulouse. They have a settled spine of a team which makes a big difference. They’ll be in a battle but too early to write them off by any means. They surprised plenty in the middle 8s format, and that was a weaker squad

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58 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

That squad looks considerably weaker than Leigh's from 2021. They might pick up the odd win at home against other relegation strugglers like Salford but I can see quite a few really heavy defeats for them in 2022 and a quick relegation to the Championship

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

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10 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

They may also have watched the SL and NRL closely in recent years and found out that there are many opportunities to add to the squad before the business end. Lots of quality players looking for an early release or injured or in trouble. Had Toulouse been in SL in 2021 for example, they could probably have picked up the likes of Anthony Milford, Adam Elliott etc. for 4 month loan spells to help them in the run in.

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24 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

Agree with this. While it isnt a world beating squad, there isn't a group of top players sitting around ready to be signed whom Toulouse have ignored.

As you say, keeping their spine of players is what has got them promoted and the 10% extra they will get from not having to bring together a scratch set of players might pinch them an extra win or two. If it doesn't, and they get relegated, they'll find retention much easier too.

I can confirm 30+ less sales for Scotland vs Italy at Workington, after this afternoons test purchase for the Tonga match, £7.50 is extremely reasonable, however a £2.50 'delivery' fee for a walk in purchase is beyond taking the mickey, good luck with that, it's cheaper on the telly.

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40 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

Agree completely with the last bit , first bit is nonsense , the 2020 season consisted of 6 games each for Leigh and Fev , who both won all 6 , and 7 for Toulouse due to them dodging the CC , of which they won all 7 , the years previous to that were all very close 

Toulouse will struggle especially if they get injuries ( as Leigh did massively this year ) , again dodging the CC is a good idea as that might buy them a couple of wins 

You are correct in that they have kept together a winning squad ( unlike Leigh who basically get a completely new one every year it seems ) 

They will need a big dose of luck , and to target the home games against the bottom 7 

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41 minutes ago, Damien said:

This is a Toulouse squad that was unbeaten last year and has consistently finished above Leigh in the Championship in recent years, including the year prior to Leigh going into SL. They are going into SL with a much stronger squad than what Leigh had in their last year of the Championship. Yes Leigh may have made signings but they didn't add any real quality and had players like Ben Flower watching from the sidelines.

I also think that a mistake teams often make is ditching all the players that got them into SL in the first place and signing a load of players from the relegated club. They shatter the team spirit and cohesion that made them successful. Often the clubs that do best are the ones that retain a strong core of their existing squad, as London did when they won 10 games.

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

St.Helens - The Home of record breaking Rugby Champions

 

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1 minute ago, Saint Toppy said:

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

But playing Devil's Advocate the squad is 50% French players so they are either trying to give those guys every opportunity possible to prove themselves in SL or they simply fill it with overseas signings and English players. It can't be both ways - you want French players in SL they will be untested.

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13 minutes ago, GUBRATS said:

Agree completely with the last bit , first bit is nonsense , the 2020 season consisted of 6 games each for Leigh and Fev , who both won all 6 , and 7 for Toulouse due to them dodging the CC , of which they won all 7 , the years previous to that were all very close 

Toulouse will struggle especially if they get injuries ( as Leigh did massively this year ) , again dodging the CC is a good idea as that might buy them a couple of wins 

You are correct in that they have kept together a winning squad ( unlike Leigh who basically get a completely new one every year it seems ) 

They will need a big dose of luck , and to target the home games against the bottom 7 

Its not nonsense. Its a fact. I know 2020 was shortened, hence I said recent seasons too. Toulouse finished above Leigh in 2018, 2019 and 2020, every season since 2017 when Leigh were in Super League. That's regularly in my book. Yes it may have been close but they still did.

I do think teams sometimes change for changes sake and don't necessarily sign players that are better than the ones they let go.

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1 minute ago, Scubby said:

But playing Devil's Advocate the squad is 50% French players so they are either trying to give those guys every opportunity possible to prove themselves in SL or they simply fill it with overseas signings and English players. It can't be both ways - you want French players in SL they will be untested.

This.people at quick to criticise TO & Catalans for their “lack” of French players then have a pop when they recruit those same French players.

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31 minutes ago, Saint Toppy said:

The TO squad is made up of players completely untested at SL level, and of the ones who do have the experience a fair few of them are well past their best (Garbutt, Gigot, Hansen, Pelissier) and others were largely flops at that level (Paulo, Vaivai, Springer, Navarette, White, Cunningham). There's only really Peyroux who's still performing at SL standard.

Lets wait & see but IMO TO's squad seems an awful lot weaker than everyone elses for next year. Their pack in particular looks really poor. 

Untested does not mean they aren't good enough.

The likes of Navarette and Springer have played 60 odd games each at Super League level. Its an odd view that you have that if they are untested they automatically aren't good enough but if they have played in SL they are flops and/or past their best and still aren't good enough. Similarly if they sign French players they aren't good enough but if they sign foreign ones they aren't developing French players.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't springs to mind.

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53 minutes ago, Davo5 said:

This.people at quick to criticise TO & Catalans for their “lack” of French players then have a pop when they recruit those same French players.

Difference is Catalans were protected from relegation for 3 years and have had 15 years now to incorporate french players but still fill their team with Brits & Antipodeans. That's why I give them so much criticism.

TO i haven't criticised for their recruitment, just commented that their squad looks weak.

St.Helens - The Home of record breaking Rugby Champions

 

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49 minutes ago, Damien said:

Untested does not mean they aren't good enough.

The likes of Navarette and Springer have played 60 odd games each at Super League level. Its an odd view that you have that if they are untested they automatically aren't good enough but if they have played in SL they are flops and/or past their best and still aren't good enough. Similarly if they sign French players they aren't good enough but if they sign foreign ones they aren't developing French players.

Damned if they do, damned if they don't springs to mind.

Springer & Navarette were poor during their time in SL, and Paolo & Vaivai were just plain garbage. I'd go so far as to say Paulo was one of the worst overseas signing Saints have ever made 

St.Helens - The Home of record breaking Rugby Champions

 

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I think we were all hoping Toulouse would bring in some quality reinforcements but it was apparent early on that wasn’t going to be the case. 

The noises from Toulouse from early on were quite negative in regards to spending the cap and really going for it now they had finally won their chance they have failed to add any real value to their side.

I have remarked a few times about certain fans believing Toulouse to be the saviours of SL but with their current apathy towards making it a success in 2022 I think it’s going to be a long old year for them and I believe they could have done more to build on the positivity coming out of France. Deep down I was hoping to be proven wrong and want Toulouse to light up the comp but I just can’t see it happening. Unless of course they have been told they won’t go down next year?

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Personally speaking I think that Toulouse will stay up but by the skin of their teeth:)

At least for the first 4 months of the season fringe players will still get a run out in the French Elite 1.

I can also see the Dragons helping out with loanees  it is totally in their interests to see Toulouse stay up.

Shame that they don't have the 3 years exemption.

 

Paul

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3 hours ago, Damien said:

Its not nonsense. Its a fact. I know 2020 was shortened, hence I said recent seasons too. Toulouse finished above Leigh in 2018, 2019 and 2020, every season since 2017 when Leigh were in Super League. That's regularly in my book. Yes it may have been close but they still did.

I do think teams sometimes change for changes sake and don't necessarily sign players that are better than the ones they let go.

So a total of 5 points difference over the 2 seasons ( 2020 never had a league table , but let's not forget that year Leigh were 2 seconds from knocking HKR out of the cup at theirs ) and Leigh went to Toulouse and won in the middle of an unbeaten run apart from Toronto of about 15 games at the end of the 2018 season 

But yes you are correct they did finish above us twice in 2018/9 

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Nobody gave London a chance in 2019, granted they did finish bottom and were relegated but only on points difference. They were completely written off as no hopers before the season started, looking back at the league table it was incredibly close.

2019

9 Wakefield 22 points

10 Huddersfield 22 points 

11 Hul kr 20 points 

12 London 20 points 

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6 hours ago, GUBRATS said:

So a total of 5 points difference over the 2 seasons ( 2020 never had a league table , but let's not forget that year Leigh were 2 seconds from knocking HKR out of the cup at theirs ) and Leigh went to Toulouse and won in the middle of an unbeaten run apart from Toronto of about 15 games at the end of the 2018 season 

But yes you are correct they did finish above us twice in 2018/9 

Fact is Toulouse are a Super League club, they earned the right to that on the field, Leigh are a Championship club, a right they also earned on the field.

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20 minutes ago, Sir Kevin Sinfield said:

Fact is Toulouse are a Super League club, they earned the right to that on the field, Leigh are a Championship club, a right they also earned on the field.

Just as long as the structure doesn’t change. I’m fine with that. 

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