T’Other Side: Toulouse Olympique

T’Other Side: Toulouse Olympique

LAST TIME OUT

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 and later 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 12th season playing for Toulouse. He appeared in all three previous seasons (2009-2011) in the Championship. For most of his career he played in the three-quarters but recently he has also played in the second row with occasional appearances at hooker. He is a French international.

At the back

Bastien Ader who is a fast and powerful centre or winger joined Toulouse in 2011, having previously played for Saint Gaudens. A French international who played in all their 2017 World Cup matches. Mark Kheirallah, is a fullback and a points machine. In 2016 he scored a phenomenal total of 470 for Toulouse and scored another 320 last year. So far this year he has scored another 164 points. He was a stand-out performer for Lebanon in last year’s World Cup. Although he wears squad number 20, winger Paul Marcon has become a regular in the starting line-up over the last two years.

In the halves

Toulouse really suffered last year from a long term injury to Johnathon Ford but they have rectified the situation this year by having three quality halves in the squad.

French international halfback, William Barthau joined this year after playing the last three years for London Broncos. He began his career in the ‘English’ game with Catalans in 2010 and played for them infrequently until the move to London Broncos in 2015. He played a single game for Toulouse on loan in 2010 and half a dozen for Dewsbury in 2011. Barthau has appeared for France on 17 occasions. Anyone who was at Post Office Road for the visit of Toulouse last season won’t have forgotten the manner in which stand-off Johnathon Ford tore us apart in the first half. Ford plays internationally for the Cook Islands. He is very much the controlling brain who organises the team around the field. Stan Robin joined Toulouse last year from Catalans Dragons where he began in 2015. In 2016 he had a loan spell with Sheffield Eagles. He is a French international.

The Hookers

Likewise, Toulouse have three hookers available in their squad. Charles Bouzinac comes into the team when either of the others are unavailable or rested. Although still only 24 years old, he has previously played for Saint-Estève (Catalans reserve team), Limoux and Lézignan and in 2016 he played for Central Queensland Capras. Mourad Kriouache began his career with Carcassonne and then was signed by London Skolars during the 2011 season, moving on later that year to Toulouse where he has been since. In 2015 he played for France against England. Anthony Marion plays at either hooker or loose forward. He joined Toulouse in 2014 having previously been at Albi.

In the pack

Bastien Canet is a regular starter at prop. Beginning his career at Carcassonne in 2011, he joined Toulouse in 2015. He scores more tries than most props with 22 in the last two seasons and 4 so far this year. Even more of a prolific try scorer is Australian second rower Rhys Curran. He scored no less than 33 times in his first two seasons with Toulouse and this year is their second highest try scorer so far with 9. Sam Rapira is a New Zealander who played for the New Zealand Warriors in the NRL from 2006 to 2015. For the last two years he has been with the Huddersfield Giants. Sam has played for the New Zealand international team thirteen times. Steve Rapira who played for Salford in 2014 is his younger brother.

Dual Registration and loan players

We believe that Toulouse have a dual registration agreement with Catalans but it has not been used this year so far. Nor do they currently have any players on loan.

The Fev connection

We found just the one, and it is a very tenuous connection! Back in 2000, Brad Hepi came to Fev on loan 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.