T’Other Side: Toulouse Olympique

T’Other Side: Toulouse Olympique

Head Coach: Sylvain Houles

Sylvain Houles began his tenure as head coach of Toulouse Olympique for the 2011 season. That was the final year of their previous three year participation in the ‘English’ Championship league. Most of his playing career was as a centre or winger although towards the end he moved to half back or loose forward. He started with XIII Catalans (the former name of Catalans Dragons) and then in 2000 entered Super League with the Huddersfield and Sheffield Giants. He then moved to London Broncos. Houles also played for Dewsbury Rams and Wakefield Trinity Wildcats before returning to France with Toulouse. He played 14 times for France.

Captain: Sébastien Planas

Sébastien Planas is now in his 11th season playing for Toulouse. He appeared in all three previous seasons (2009-2011) in the Championships. For most of his career he played in the three-quarters but recently he has played primarily in the second row with occasional appearances at hooker. He is a French international.

 At the Back

Bastien Ader started with Toulouse. He was originally a winger but this season he has been regularly playing at centre. Earlier this year he scored a hat trick against Rochdale and last week got two against Hull KR. Last year Mark Kheirallah was a points scoring phenomenon last year, achieving a total of 470. He scored 32 tries (5 hatricks) and kicked 171 goals. On 10 separate occasions he scored at least 20 points and against Keighley in June he scored 4 tries and 12 goals for a total of 40 points. He is an Australian of Lebanese descent. Papua New Guinean winger, Kuni Minga, is an even more prolific try scorer than Kheirallah. Last year he crossed for 35 tries in just 27 matches and this year he has scored 13 tries in 14 matches. He has been out injured recently but returned to action last Sunday against Hull KR. Although originally from Papua New Guinea, he has now been selected in the French train-on squad for the World Cup.

In the Halves

Following the injury to Toulouse’s star stand-off, Johnathan Ford, who tore Fev apart in March, Toulouse had problems finding a new successful halfback pairing. They seem to have sorted the problem by bringing in Louis Jouffret on dual registration from Catalans. In 2015 and 2016 Jouffret played for Whitehaven but spent most of his time at fullback. He is a French U18 international. The regular scrum-half for Toulouse this year has been Stan Robin. He played for Catalans in 2015 and 2016, spending the later part of the 2016 season on loan with Sheffield Eagles. He is a French international.

In the Pack

For the large majority of games, Clément Boyer and Bastien Canet have been the starting props for Toulouse this season. Boyer was French U18 international in 2013 and played in the full French team in 2015. He had a brief spell with Halifax in 2015 before becoming a regular for Toulouse last year. Bastien Canet was also a regular member of Toulouse’s League One winning squad last year. Australian, Rhys Curran, is a second rower who is a consistent try scorer. He scored 14 tries last year and has already scored 12 this year.

The Fev Connection

We found one, albeit a very tenuous connection! Back in 2000, Brad Hepi came to Fev and played 7 games before moving on to Salford. His son, Tyla, is a regular prop for Toulouse. Brad played for 12 different English clubs and Toulouse is already young Tyla’s fourth club having previously appeared for Gloucestershire All Golds (with Brad as coach), Hull Kingston Rovers and Whitehaven.