Club the most titled in Champions Cup, the Stade Toulousain, opposed Sunday to the Atlantic Matmut in Bordeaux-Bègles in the semi-final of the event, has been practicing almost relentless domination for 30 years as soon as it meets French training in the final phase. The ratio is frightening: 93 %, or fourteen qualifications out of fifteen possible since its first exclusively tricolor confrontation in Dax (26-18) in the semi-finals in November 1996.
Since then, whether with Guy Novès or Ugo Mola at their head, the Red and Black have never experienced the defeat against French clubs during European matches with direct elimination, winning 13 times consecutively, four times of which to obtain the continental crown, against Perpignan in 2003, the French stadium in 2005, Biarritz in 2010 and finally La Rochelle in 2021.
“When you sign there, you know what to wait for. You go there to win titles because it is a team that will be competitive whatever the competition. They don’t be overlooking, it’s something that is in the veins and that, nobody will remove it“, Recognizes for AFP the former second line David Gérard, double European champion (2003, 2005), today consultant. The only time Toulouse tried, against Brive in December 1997 at the semi-finals stadium, it is among the registered tests (2 against 1) while the two teams could not decide (22-22 AP).
2021: the UBB crossed between Clermont and La Rochelle
A real shock of styles between Toulouse, winner of the first edition in 1996, and the CAB of Patrick Sébastien, who had succeeded him at the charts, this match played at the Stadium remained in the Annals for his commitment on the field and his dramaturgy. “”It was not a match for the heart“, had also summarized at the time the Corrézien scorer Christophe Lamaison, who had missed the transformation of the win at the end of regulation time, which had not prevented him from rewrite in overtime and send the” coujoux “to the final against Bath.
-Emmanuel item (Toulouse) Face your RCT en Champions Cup
Credit: Getty Images
In his long European history, Toulouse has still lost twice against French clubs but in chicken matches: in January 2015 in Montpellier (27-26), a defeat which deprived him of the qualification, and in January 2016 in Oyonnax (32-14) when he was already eliminated. In terms of its most frequent victims, the BO was three times in seven years (from 2004 to 2011), ahead of Clermont, the Stade Français and the Racing 92 (twice each).
The most striking, or most frustrating edition for its hexagonal competitors, remains that of 2021, played with reduced gauges due to the pandemic of Covid-19. After having dominated Clermont (21-12) at Michelin in the quarterfinals, Antoine Dupont and his teammates had taken the best in Bordeaux-Bègles (21-9) in the semi-final in Ernest-Wallon, before winning in front of La Rochelle reduced to 14 (22-17) in the final in Twickenham. Before the reunion on Sunday with the UBB at the Atlantic Matmut, Toulouse remains on a wet success in the previous round in Toulon (21-18), a club with three European stars that he had never met until then in the event.
