Toulouse Tour 2024 - Day 4

Day 4 began with a visit to the Stade Ernest Wallon - home of Stade Toulousain. The stadium was close enough (this is a value judgement not shared by all) to be walkable - so we took a stroll through the backsteets in pleasant sunny weather.

Before entering the stadium, we could see that umbrellas, flags, suitcases, drums, and crash helmets were permissible but vuvuzelas, selfie-sticks along with guns, megaphones and fireworks were not.

We were given a tour of the grounds, and training facilities led by former Toulouse centre Michel Marfaing - who is now director of youth development for 13-17 year old age group

Once in the Toulouse dressing room, some of the lads made a beeline for their number/position - some names and reputations to aspire to....

Meanwhile....

"...perchance to dream......"

There was also another chance to ransack the Stade Toulousain shop for more goodies and for everyone to get a '9' for Dupont added to their purchases.

We also got the good news that four of our U16s are included in the Munster panel for the summer trials - congratulations to the four. It's well deserved based on their contribitions to the U14s last year and to the U16s this season.

Leaving the Stade Wallon, we had an impromptu lunch at McDonalds - I was impressed how quickly they got through 50+ odd orders.

Then we headed off the 'Halle de la Machine '. The Halle de La Machine is a museum in Montaudran housing animatronic and interactive exhibits.

One problem - we hadn't booked in advance. However, with a mixture of charm, good looks, and terrible French - Ger and I somehow worked to persuade them to accept a party of 60 on spec.

Then we headed over to Montaudran for our second fixture of the tour - with our U16s taking on Montaudran. Our U14s had a training session with Montaudran before the big game

Once again, our hosts pulled out all the stops to ensure all the formalities were observed with Amhrann na bhFiann and Ireland's Call played before La Marseillaise

The match was close fought and if we were a little confused by interpretation of the breakdown by the local referee....

....we ensured that all the lads got plenty of minutes in the 3x20 format.

And afterwards, well, the pictures tell a tale much better than I can......

Montaudran made a presentation to Ger Moynihan - and we presented Madame la president Celine Lorin with a plaque

And afterwards - the grown ups repaired to the clubhouse to sample some local wines, cheeses, and charcuterie - hey, when in France......

Huge thanks to everyone at Toulouse Montaudran Rugby - but especially to Cédric Guiraud who helped make the trip possible.