Toulouse lit up Super League but French fans miss out on TV coverage

Every now and then, something dramatic is required. No one could blame Sylvain Houles for threatening to quit rugby league if his Toulouse Olympique team were replaced in Super League next season by London Broncos. After all, he has just taken them to eighth in the table on half funding, finishing above their rivals Catalans Dragons for the first time in 25 years in the process.

The rumour that Toulouse could be ranked 14th by IMG and relegated has since been quashed – to every sane league fan’s relief. Shane Richardson, the NRL head of strategy, says the aim is to build the code’s presence in France, not slash it in half.

Toulouse deserve to be in Super League. In only their second season in the top flight, they have been rightly praised for finishing above their French rivals, especially when they only received half the central funding. Sadly, though, few French sports fans have seen Toulouse or Catalans this season – or any Super League for that matter.

“There has been no Super League on French TV all season,” says the journalist Esteban Raña. Matches have been live streamed by Rugbyrama, but they are buried deep on their website – search and you may find – and the rest of the league has not been covered. “The Rugbyrama deal was only for the French teams, so there have been no Good Friday derbies, no playoffs, no Grand Final and, at the moment, no World Cup. French fans deserve to see everything.” The French sporting public missed Warrington dispatch Hull KR and Wakefield ride the wave at a bouncing Belle Vue into a historic semi-final.

Toulouse only finished above Catalans on points difference but their performances are being viewed very differently. Catalans were expected to finish out of sight of Toulouse, but their NRL imports lacked consistency and their propensity to flop every time they gathered momentum meant heads rolled throughout the campaign. The emergence of some young French players was one of the few positives in a chaotic campaign in Perpignan. On the other hand, Houles is many people’s choice for coach of the year. His newly promoted team won more matches than established Super League clubs such as Hull FC, Castleford and Huddersfield.

Houles added just a handful of recruits to his outstanding 2025 Championship-winning team, none of whom had extensive top-flight experience, few of whom were wanted by other clubs, and all of whom were cheap. Most were bargains. The Italy international Luke Polselli played anywhere in the back line or halves; Joe Cator added grit up front; and the second rower Louis Grossemy, rejected by Sydney Roosters, Rabbitohs and Canterbury Bulldogs, did well enough to be included in France’s 40-man World Cup squad.

Houles trusted his players to get better – and they have. He has a gem in Olly Ashall-Bott, one of the best English full-backs in the league. Bott qualifies for France next February and may make the switch, having been overlooked by England. Unlike every other Super League club, Toulouse went with domestic halves, César Rougé and Thomas Lacans clicking delightfully, while Benjamin Laguerre was a constant threat out wide.

The second rower Mathieu Jussaume was so consistently excellent that he was voted into the Super League dream team, only the second Frenchman to achieve that after Rémi Casty. They would all start for most Super League clubs. With only six players released and 80% under contract, there will be more continuity under Houles next year – his 20th at the club.

However, it will be all change at Catalans – again. A season of turmoil ended with the club having a different chief executive, manager, head coach and assistant than they started it with. Ben Garcia is retiring to become the club’s sporting director, so they need a new captain too. The France coach Laurent Frayssinous will return to the club after the World Cup as assistant, 10 years after leaving.

He and the head coach, John Cartwright, will work with a much-shaken and stirred squad. The Hull KR winger Joe Burgess will replace the retiring Tommy Makinson, while Nick Cotric and Edenn Rogers-Smith are heading to Leeds. Cole Geyer, Jesse Arthars, Luciano Leilua and Tyson Gamble make it a new-look foreign quota. Cartwright has also gone back to Hull FC to sign Amir Bourouh.

Things have been brighter at Toulouse, but their home form and low attendances were disappointing. The ferociously hot summer in the south of France did not help. The crowd of 7,360 for their final home game of the season against Hull was promising – especially as the match was played during a 40C heatwave – but there were just 3,743 in attendance the week before when they welcomed Bradford, leaving 16,000 empty seats.

Their ropey home form – they lost eight matches in a row mid-season – did not help, but growing a fanbase takes time, especially in a city that is dominated by the most successful union club in the world. Stade Toulousain, who share the Stade Ernest-Wallon with Toulouse, have a budget of €63m, the largest in the Pro 14. Toulouse Olympique, meanwhile, were given £650,000 in central funding this season.

But rugby league remains strong in Perpignan, where Dragons’ crowds held up well considering their disappointing results – more than 9,000 attended their final home game against York. Sharing cities with Top 14 clubs, where matches are screened on national TV and covered extensively in newspapers and union magazines, leaves rugby league battling for breath.

That may change a little next season. Dazn shows Serie A and La Liga in France, and Rana expects them to bring Super League back to French TV screens in February. “I hope Dazn buys the rights and does a deal here,” he says. “The problem is the best games are still going to be on Sky, which we don’t have, but I hope we’ll have a platform here to show every game, definitely every French team. BeIN shows four live NRL games each week and, when Catalans got to the Grand Final in 2023, we had 85,000 watching on L’Équipe TV across France, which is really good.

“We know there is an audience for it but, if you cannot watch it on TV, we cannot grow. Everyone in French rugby league will do anything to promote the game, but we need more. I’m sure the NRL, IMG and Super League will fix that.” Here’s hoping.