After the (more than) laborious success of Stade Rochelais against a reshuffled Stade Toulousain team (22-19), Saturday evening at the Marcel-Deflandre stadium, find out what pleased… and displeased our editorial staff.
TOPS
Valentin Delpy and Selevasio Tolofua uninhibited… and decisive
Valentin Delpy, 21, started at the opening against Stade Rochelais, had a (very) good match. The young Toulousain was on foot throughout the match, scoring 14 of his team’s 19 points just with his boot. The red and black number 10 made a drop in the last minutes (77th), allowing Toulouse to hope to hold on to a result until the end. Sialevailea Tolofua (20 years old), for his part, came on for the second period, scored the try (70th) which revived the Haut-Garonnais. His first… for his first professional match with the Rouge et Noir. Promising.
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Top 14: Stade Rochelais comes close to being penalized against the young Toulouse guard
Brice Dulin untenable
What volume of play displayed by the La Rochelle back. The Maritime finished the meeting with 14 races carried out at high intensity, or 110 meters covered with ball in hand! Colossal, at 35 years old.
Grégory Alldritt and Paul Boudehent of iron
The two Rochelais didn’t let anything slip. The captain of the XV of France and his friend crushed the young Toulouse player. No less than 11 successful tackles for the first and… 13 for the second. The maritime goal line was (very) well guarded.
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The (magnificent) youth of Toulouse
21 years of average age this evening on the Haut-Garonnais side… And Stade Rochelais had all the difficulty in the world to dispose of this valiant and daring red and black formation which played in a completely uninhibited manner. Even with its third, or even fourth team, the Toulouse team gives the impression that they could play for the title and beat any big team in the championship. This shows their domination…
FLOPS
A poor and “embarrassing” performance from the Maritimes
Despite the laborious victory in extremis, Stade Rochelais, with this dismal performance, (once again) showed all its current shortcomings. Undisciplined, clumsy, incapable of streamlining their playing time and scuttling their testing opportunities, Ronan O’Gara’s men have (a lot) of work. La Rochelle still almost got humiliated by the “cadets” of Stade Toulousain… When will the downgrading of the former European champion stop?
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A match without (almost) any flavor
We didn’t expect the usual clash between the two teams given the Toulouse youth in the evening but still a rhythmic and dynamic meeting with quality on each side… It was nothing of the sort. The fight never really started, indiscipline reigned for the majority of the match, a false rhythm was established by the Rochelais (despite themselves). We had to wait until the last 10 minutes to see a lively confrontation and suspense. Otherwise, we had to (better) watch another rugby match…