Stade Toulouse, World's Greatest Rugby Team

Moving to Toulouse means that there is no American Football in the fall. To make the best of this situation, we decided to do what everyone else does here and back the home rugby team: Stade Toulouse. I have always been a bit wary of rugby, this going back to my college days. I lived across the street from a house full of rugby guys, and they were a little intimidating especially after the game. You did not want to accidentally cross the street in front of their house when there was arugby party going on. No good came of it! But, in order to fit in to our new surroundings, we bought team shirts, got tickets and went to the game.

 Football of sorts has been played since the 1400’s. In 1845 Rugby School in England produced the first written set of rules for their game and the name “Rugby” stuck. Over the years, there came to be a division between Rugby League and Rugby Union as far as athlete professional status and rules. Since I am a novice to the sport in general, I do not make an attempt to discuss the differences between the two. 

In France, rugby has a very strong tradition, especially in the Southwest where it is a bit more popular than the usual football (soccer to Northern Americans). Stade Toulouse is arguably the best team in France. It was founded as a Rugby Union Team in 1907. The team’s roots go beyond that, several high school and university teams from the 1890’s joined to form the local rugby, Stade Toulouse. Stade Toulouse won its first national title in 1912 and became the national powerhouse throughout the 1920’s. From 1930-1960 Toulouse failed to put up winning teams except in 1947, but since the late 1980’s no other team can match the record of Stade Toulouse. They have won an unprecedented four Heineken Cups, having qualified for every tournament. This past year, Toulouse lost to Edinburgh in the quarterfinals. Their most recent Heineken Cup tournament win was during the 2009-2010 season.


Currently, Stade Toulouse is in 3rd place, having lost one game out of four in regular season play. The season starts in August and lasts until the spring. Finals follow for ultimate bragging rights as national champions. In the game we saw, Stade Toulosue beat Agen by a score of 62-13. It was a trouncing, but it was expected as Agen is holding down 13th place in the league.

The game and scoring are not easy to figure out, but once I get the hang of a few basic rules, the game will be easier to follow. Briefly, the game is called a match. Each match has two 40 minute halves with the possibility of more time added for time outs. We saw some injuries on the field, but the game played on and no one seemed to care if a man was down. The ball moves up the field by either kicking it or passing the ball to someone behind you. Passes cannot go forward. Once a player is tackled, he must pass or release the ball or a foul is called. There are two methods for scoring: a “try” where a player takes the ball across the goal line and grounds the ball, second there is a goal, which is essentially a kick through the uprights. The type of kick determines the number of points awarded for the kick. The first is the conversion, which is the kick following the “try” and is worth 2 points. Two other types of kicks are: a dropped goal and a penalty goal, each are worth 3 points.  

The scrum is probably the most recognized part of a rugby game to the novice. It is the restart position of the game. The scrum appears to be a huddle of both teams, and the ball is rolled into the middle. What you see is quite a bit of pushing, stomping and forcing one’s way out with the ball while mayhem ensues. It is a game where anything seems to go, and rules a strategy are not obviously apparent. Feats of strength are mandatory, as is a mud covered, grass stained uniform by the end of the match. It is exciting, but I will have to wait and see how this goes towards replacing the fall gridiron game!