2009 was the first year of participation to the Championship for the Toulouse Olympique rugby league club. Toulouse was allowed special dispensation to field five overseas players in their first season. The new Toulouse team was composed of 9 full-time players, 13 part-time players and 10 members of the Toulouse academy.French federation press presentation With a largely renewed team and a lack of preseason (only friendly with the Dragons cancelled due to the weather), the TO started its season with a series of defeat. Its first match in the Championship proved to be too much of a challenge with a hammering 70-0 at Widnes in front of Sky cameras. However, after the victory away against Batley, the TO accumulated victories and looked on track for a top 4 spot.
The match against Featherstone at home in June however marked another turning point in the season. With the injury of the play maker Nathan Wynn and several referee decisions going against the team, the TO lost the match. Without Wynn, at the crucial time where the team was to be opposed to the favourite of the Championship, the TO lost 4 games in a row. With Wynn coming back a win away at Featherstone was a short lived success. An unexpected defeat at home against Gateshead in battle for relegation removed almost any chance left of making the playoffs. Without much stakes left in the Championship (given the absence of relegation for the TO in its first 3 seasons in Championship), Toulouse lost also two of its last 3 matches at Leigh and Halifax.
The final ranking of Toulouse, 10 out of 11, does not represent fairly the quality of a team who won 9 out of 20 matches in a very competitive division where the final champion, Barrow, won only 13 of its matches.
Fixtures and results Competition Round Opponent Result Score Home/Away Venue Attendance Date Photos Challenge Cup 3 Sheffield Eagles Loss 22-6 Away Don Valley Stadium 1,554 08/03/2009 1 Co-operative Championship 1 Widnes Vikings Loss 70-0 Away Halton Stadium 5,074 12/03/2009 1 Co-operative Championship 2 Sheffield Eagles Loss 12-18 Home Stade des Minimes 1,923 21/03/2009 Full match 1, 2 Co-operative Championship 3 Whitehaven Loss 40-26 Away Recreation Ground 1,225 28/03/2009 Match extract 1 Co-operative Championship 5 Batley Bulldogs Win 22-60 Away Mount Pleasant 662 13/04/2009 1 Co-operative Championship 6 Leigh Centurions Win 46-10 Home Stade Ernest-Argeles 2,000 18/04/2009 Full match 1 Co-operative Championship 7 Doncaster Win 18-48 Away Keepmoat Stadium 1,089 26/04/2009 1 Co-operative Championship 8 Whitehaven Win 38-18 Home Stade des Minimes 2,300 02/05/2009 Match extract1 Co-operative Championship 10 Barrow Raiders Win 22-14 Home Stade des Minimes 2,900 16/05/2009 Full match 1 Co-operative Championship 11 Sheffield Eagles Loss 58-12 Away Don Valley Stadium 809 23/05/2009 1, 2 Co-operative Championship 12 Gateshead Thunder Win 16-52 Away Gateshead International Stadium 516 07/06/2009 1 , 2, 3 Co-operative Championship 13 Batley Bulldogs Win 32-24 Home Stade des Minimes 2,176 13/06/2009 Full match 1 Co-operative Championship 14 Featherstone Rovers Loss 16-32 Home Stade Ernest-Argeles 2,000 27/06/2009 Full match1 Co-operative Championship 15 Barrow Raiders Loss 30-22 Away Craven Park 2,456 02/07/2009 Co-operative Championship 16 Halifax Loss 16-54 Home Stade des Minimes 2,697 18/07/2009 Full match 1, 2, 3 Co-operative Championship 17 Widnes Vikings Loss 24-32 Home Stade Ernest-Argeles 3,206 25/07/2009 Full match 1 Co-operative Championship 18 Featherstone Rovers Win 18-34 Away Chris Moyles Stadium 1,346 01/08/2009 Match extract Co-operative Championship 19 Gateshead Thunder Loss 20-48 Home Stade des Minimes 1,386 08/08/2009 Match highlights 1 Co-operative Championship 20 Leigh Centurions Loss 26-6 Away Leigh Sports Village 1,502 15/08/2009 1 Co-operative Championship 21 Doncaster Win 52-6 Home Stade des Minimes 1,200 22/08/2009 Co-operative Championship 22 Halifax Loss 34-18 Away Shay Stadium 2,128 05/09/2009 1
League table
2009 Squad and players' statistics Player Appearances Tries Goals Drop Points Position Former club International Status Note 1 Rory Bromley 18 12 0 0 48 Fullback Redcliffe Dolphins - Full-time 2 Sébastien Payan 16 3 0 0 12 Winger Catalans Dragons - Part-time 3 Sébastien Planas 18 8 0 0 32 Centre Toulouse Olympique Yes Full-time 4 Damien Couturier 20 12 12 0 72 Centre Toulouse Olympique - Full-time 5 Julien Lasserre 19 9 2 0 46 Fullback Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 6 Constant Villegas 19 8 0 0 32 Stand off Toulouse Olympique Yes Part-time 7 Nathan Wynn 17 5 76 0 172 Scrum half Sydney Bulls - Full-time 8 Brendan Worth 19 0 0 0 0 Prop Penrith Panthers - Full-time 9 Martin Mitchell 18 6 0 0 24 Hooker Parramatta Eels reserve - Full-time 10 Mathieu Griffi 18 5 0 0 20 Prop Catalans Dragons Yes Full-time 11 Timothy Wynn 18 3 0 0 12 Second row Wentworthville Magpies - Full-time 12 Mathieu Almarcha 16 3 0 0 0 Second row Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 13 Eric Anselme 17 4 0 0 16 Loose forward Leeds Rhinos Yes Full-time 14 Antoni Maria 19 4 0 0 16 Second row St Gaudens - Toulouse academy 15 Jérôme Gout 0 0 0 0 0 Prop Toulouse Olympique - Part-time Injured all season 16 Olivier Pramil 10 1 0 0 4 Prop New York Knights - Part-time 17 Yohan Barthau 6 0 0 0 0 Second row St Gaudens - Toulouse academy 18 Adrien Viala 7 2 0 0 8 Winger Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 19 Nicolas Delgal 2 0 0 0 0 Scrum half RC Albi XIII - Toulouse academy 20 Sylvain Houles 16 1 0 0 0 Loose forward Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 21 Bruno Ormeno 10 4 0 0 16 Centre Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 22 Nicolas Fauré 13 2 0 0 8 Prop Toulouse Olympique - Part-time 23 Cédric Gay 9 4 0 0 0 Hooker Toulouse Olympique - Part-time - Clément Bienes 3 1 0 0 0 Winger Toulouse Olympique - Toulouse academy - Kevin Liguoro 1 2 0 0 0 Winger Toulouse Olympique - Toulouse academy - Teli Pelo 3 0 0 0 0 Winger Ramonvillea - - Jean-Christophe Borlin 12 1 0 0 4 Prop St Gaudens Yes Arrived in May - Yoan Tisseyre 3 2 0 0 0 Second row Lezignan - Arrived in the summer - Carlos Mendes Varela 4 2 0 0 0 Winger Lyon - Arrived in the summer - Florian Quintilla 3 0 0 0 0 Second row Catalans Dragons - On loan one month Source : www.championshipstats.rlfans.com, FFR13. Are only included players who played at least one game in the season.
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