Stade Toulousain is flying this Thursday afternoon to Cardiff where it will play its first Champions Cup match at Arms Park on Saturday (2 p.m.).
“A particular appetite for this competition”
Ugo Mola, the Toulouse manager, clearly assumes the status of Stade Toulousain at the dawn of this new European season: “The fact that we are champion is obvious. We must not hide. The club always has a particular appetite for this competition, it is important to switch quickly, not to remain in the daily routine of the championship, “explains Mola.
Toulouse wants to keep its title, which it has never managed to do in its history: “The teams which have excelled tend to have a series of performances: there is the period of Munster, Leinster, Toulon, Saracens. And no Stade Toulousain period even if there was the 2003, 2004 and 2005. It’s hard to repeat such a performance. “
In good memory of Cardiff
Like a symbol, Toulouse is starting this European campaign at Arms Park. The same where the Toulousains won their first star in 1996. At the time, Jérôme Cazalbou, Didier Lacroix, Emile Ntamack or even Ugo Mola were treading the lawn. “Cardiff is a place we like to go. There is a real story between the two clubs.”
Toulouse and Welsh who also fought twice in the quarter-finals at the end of the 2000s (a victory and a defeat for Toulouse) but it has been more than ten years since these two teams have crossed paths.