Toulouse Olympique: starts with a block from the friendly start

The Toulouse Olympique winger suffered a serious knee injury last Saturday during the TO friendly match against the Catalans Dragons.

The season has not yet officially started for Toulouse Olympique, entered in the Championship (English 2nd division), as one of its players has already left the 2021 financial year.

Toulouse Olympique coach Sylvain HOULES has appointed the half Johnathon FORD as squad captain for the 2021 season.

The pleasure of playing again, the joy of being up against an opponent, this is what the Toulouse Olympique players experienced last Saturday on the lawn of the Gilbert-Brutus stadium, against the Catalans Dragons. A friendly pre-season meeting that brought smiles back to Toulouse despite the defeat (40-28). « There is a lot of positive to take away from this meeting », admit Sylvain HOULES.

Indeed, it is Johnathon Ford who will be the new captain of the Olympians. Ford, who will start his 10th season with the TO, is used to being a leader with a lot of experience. He will have the task of leading his teammates in what will be an intense and interesting season leading up to the Super League. The half who will still be an essential part of the French collective could also play a last World Cup with the Cook Islands of which he is international. Author of 175 games with the TO, he scored 49 tries and will form a formidable pair with Reynolds this season.

At 31 years old and strong of his 10 seasons under the Blue and White tunic, “Johno” recovers the role of captain left vacant after the departure of Constantine MIKA.

Constantine Mika, spent four years with the French club, scoring 26 tries in 96 appearances, and was named captain in 2019.

He said: “Sometimes we have to make tough decisions in life and that was one of them. I’m sad to leave but I’m extremely proud to have been a part of this club and really enjoyed my 4 years here.

“The Pink City saw the birth of our children and will always hold a special place in our hearts. I would like to thank the club, my teammates and Sylvain and his staff. Thank you also to the supporters for welcoming me to your city. With my family, we will be eternally grateful.

Mika has played 50 Super League games with Hull KR and previously played for Newcastle Knights in the NRL.

Toulouse president Bernard Sarrazain said: “It is obviously a disappointment to see MIKA leave but we can only thank him for everything he has brought to the TO and he will always be welcome with us. We wish him and his family all the best.

A completely natural choice concerning the one who played 175 games with the TO for 49 registered tries, exemplary on the ground as outside, who has been part of the leaders of the group for many years.

Used to dictating the tempo of the team on the pitch, the Cook Islands native will therefore have another mission this season: to lead an entire club to their ultimate goal, the Super League.

Indeed, last Saturday, during the friendly match between the Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique (40-28) in Perpignan, Toulouse winger Paul Marcon injured his left knee at the end of the first period.

The international, who signed two more seasons with Toulouse club last summer, has since had tests which have revealed a ruptured anterior ligament. His season is therefore already over. A blow for Paul Marcon, 25, who will have to chain surgery and rehabilitation after a blank year in sport following the health crisis.

Released 5 minutes from half-time in the match between his team and the Catalans Dragons last Saturday, Paul had an MRI on Tuesday, which allowed him to know the exact nature of his injury, rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee, that requires surgery.

The Olympian medical staff quickly activated, Paul Marcon, will operate on Monday March 29 at the Purpan University Hospital in Toulouse and then leave to follow an adapted rehabilitation for several weeks at the CERS of Capbreton (40), a reference establishment specializing in the re-education of high level athletes.

The whole club wish him a good recovery and will be by his side throughout his recovery, supporting him so that he regains the pitch and his level as quickly as possible.

On April 3, Toulouse Olympique will launch its Championship season at York. Thus putting an end to more than a year of scarcity in official competition.

The RFL said trips by Featherstone (May 1) and Widnes (May 8) to Toulouse are canceled and matches postponed. Indeed, the quarantine when English players return is incompatible with teams which are not entirely professional and therefore cannot afford to be isolated. Therefore Love Rugby League indicates that these matches will be postponed to a later date and the classification will be like in the Super League, established on the percentage of wins.

The visit of the London Broncos (April 17) is not threatened as the capital club is the other 100% professional club alongside TO XIII. The situation must urgently improve or failing that top-level sports be exempted from quarantine, otherwise the French club will struggle to play 70% of its matches to hope for qualification.

This season starts extremely rough, due to the health crisis and many canceled meetings.

The RFL and Championship clubs have already agreed that positions in the league table will be determined by a percentage of points this year to allow for the possibility of postponed matches. The only two places available for the reorganized matches are the weekend of the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup and 1895 Cup in June and the Monday following the finals of these competitions on July 17.

A press release from RFL said: « The board of directors has decided that the priority to reorganize the Toulouse matches postponed in these available slots should be the teams which were to play only one away game against the French club. the reduction of the list of matches as a result. start of the season delayed – Widnes and Swinton Lions, whose away match in Toulouse is scheduled for May 22.

“If Widnes and Swinton’s progress in the Challenge Cup or 1895 Cup means that they cannot reorganize the league matches for the two available slots, Toulouse will have to travel to play the matches in England on the dates scheduled.

« Further postponed matches could then be arranged for the available match slots, and will be arranged in the chronological order of the original matches. »

Clubs must have played 70% of their scheduled matches to be eligible for the first six play-offs, and the RFL board has also decided that Toulouse matches postponed due to current quarantine regulations will not count as postponed for the either. Toulouse or their opponents, so that no club is penalized for circumstances beyond its control.

The RFL statement read: « In taking this decision, the Council noted that under French government regulations, Toulouse players are subject to a seven-day quarantine period after any travel to the UK. which makes it unreasonable to force them to play other away games. « 

Toulouse will be required to fund PCR tests that would allow London to reduce the quarantine period necessary after its match in France from 10 days to five, and also to take care of any medical staff unable to travel due to other professional commitments.

The statement continued, “The RFL board recognizes that this is a complex issue and that the international travel landscape is likely to evolve further in the weeks and months to come; however, he achieved the above after weighing the competing factors and believes that it is in the general interest of competition. « 

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