The Toulon rugby club will play two Top 14 rugby matches this season at the Orange Vélodrome stadium in Marseille. It’s about dating against Toulouse on February 18 and La Rochelle on May 6. The leaders of the two clubs announced this Monday at a press conference.
Usually, the Toulonnais relocated only one of their home matches to the Marseille enclosure, on the occasion of the reception of the Toulouse Stadium, usually fixed in the spring. But this season, the National Rugby League (LNR) has decided to schedule the Toulon-Toulouse clash in February, in the middle of the Six Nations Tournament, thus depriving the Marseille public of international players, explained the president of the RCT, Bernard Lemaitre. “This choice angered the club a lot. I protested very vehemently especially given the success of the last match, we believe this is the first match to be ticked off the Top 14 schedule. It was not the case but we were promised that this would be changed for next year“, he continued.
Success in attendance for the RCT at the Vélodrome
Last season, the Toulon-Toulouse match at the Vélodrome attracted more than 64,000 spectators, i.e. the attendance “the highest of the regular season“, recalled the president of the RCT. The Toulon management also mentioned the financial interest of these relocations, the receipts of a match at the Orange Vélodrome being “four to five times higher than those of Mayol“, the stadium where the RCT plays in Toulon. It is also a question, assured Lemaître, of developing rugby in the second city of France, which does not host any professional club on its territory.