Toulouse (AFP)

A diminished Toulon goes to assault the Toulouse Stadium, an unbeaten team on its land for two years, during the poster Sunday (9:00 p.m.) of the 3rd day of Top 14 disputed in front of only 1,000 spectators.

To find the trace of a defeat at home of the last champion of France (2019), it is necessary to go back to September 29, 2018. The Toulouse were inclined against Castres (16-22).

Since then, Ugo Mola's men have gone on 26 games without defeat in the European Cup included: 25 wins and a single draw.

The only team to have stood up to them?

Toulon, who left the Stadium on December 29, with a score of parity (13-13).

The time when the duel between the two big French clubs was sold out (33,000 people) seems far away.

The reds and blacks will only welcome a very small audience at the Ernest-Wallon stadium due to the rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

Disconcerted by the drop in the maximum authorized tonnage, from 5,000 to 1,000 people, the management of the club even considered organizing the match behind closed doors to limit operating costs.

Also for economic reasons, it has chosen to favor its partners in the allocation of rare tickets and will have to reimburse its subscribers, which represents "100,000 euros" for a match like this according to Toulouse President Didier Lacroix.

The economic model of the club is based "75% on its public and its partners," he had already alerted in early September.

It is in this gloomy context that the two teams will try to avoid another defeat in the league after having each fallen once.

The Toulouse stadium seems to be leaving with a head start as the RCT has to deal with absences.

- Toulon with Europe in the lead -

Among the host of injured: Italian third row Sergio Parisse (back), South African second row and world champion Eben Etzebeth (ribs), captain Anthony Étrillard (knee), international opener Anthony Belleau (knee). .. Toulouse coach Patrice Collazo will therefore focus on youth for this duel against one of his former clubs, where he played as a player from 2002 to 2005.

The Toulouse stadium will have to do without, in particular, the center Sofiane Guitoune (thigh), the pillar Clément Castets (shoulder) and the second row wallaby Rory Arnold (arm).

But he will be able to count on his other living forces, including the swift South African winger Cheslin Kolbe, muzzled by the English of Exeter during the last outing of the Toulouse (defeat 28-18), in the European Cup.

"The goal is to bounce back quickly after a semi-final which was a very high level match but where we lacked some details to win," said forward coach Jean Bouilhou at a press conference.

The duel against the RCT is "timely" to improve these details according to him.

"Toulon have a team which is very powerful and which will undoubtedly offer sequences equivalent to those of Exeter."

Toulon, for its part, remains on a successful match on the European front against the English Leicester (34-19), which paved the way for the final of the European Challenge.

It will be October 16 against another English team, Bristol, in Aix-en-Provence.

All the more reason for Sunday to prepare for it.

© 2020 AFP