LONG READ Can Toulouse achieve Top 14 immortality?

Can Toulouse do it? Can they achieve what no other club has managed in the 134 years of the French championship and win five consecutive titles?

In beating Montpellier in June to clinch a fourth Bouclier de Brennus on the bounce, Ugo Mola’s Toulouse became only the third team to pull off the feat. The first was Bordeaux between 1904 and 1907 and the second was Guy Noves’ great Toulouse team of the 1990s.

Four in a row is some accomplishment, beyond the capability of the formidable Lourdes team of the 1950s, who twice won three consecutive titles, either side of Perpignan’s title triumph in 1955. Beziers lifted the Bouclier on ten occasions between 1971 and 1984 but they never won more than two on the trot.

A documentary released by Canal Plus in the summer captured the magnitude of Toulouse’s achievement. The broadcaster’s cameras followed the six clubs who made last season’s play-offs as they prepared for the knockout phase.

One of the final images in the film is of Mola addressing his players on the pitch minutes after they had edged out Montpellier 28-20 in the final. “Well done, boys,” said Mola. “You’re exceptional. The club is exceptional. The team is exceptional. Keep it going. We’ve got four now.”

Mola held up four fingers to emphasize his point. Four down and one to go for Toulouse to attain immortality.

But this season is likely to be the toughest yet.

It would be an exaggeration to say that this Toulouse team is breaking up, but over the summer Thomas Ramos and Francois Cros announced that this is their last season in the famous read and black jersey. Ramos will join Racing 92 after the World Cup and Cros has agreed terms with Lyon.

The news has unsettled the club’s supporters. Few of the Toulouse faithful begrudge the two thirtysomethings a final lucrative payday but might it not destabilise the squad in the months ahead? In an interview this week Ugo Mola admitted the decision of Cros and Ramos had “affected him more than ever”.

It’s also a sign that this Toulouse generation – what they call the ‘Dupont Generation’ – is ageing. Antoine Dupont, Jack Willis, Peato Mauvaka and Thibaud Flament all turn 30 this coming season. Julien Marchand, Cyril Baille and Antony Jelonch are already there.

Mola is right, they are ‘exceptional’, but his worry is that the next generation isn’t quite so golden. “We could take a tumble and fall from a great height,”

Mola is right, they are ‘exceptional’, but his worry is that the next generation isn’t quite so golden. “We could take a tumble and fall from a great height,” Mola told Midi Olympique this week. “My obsession is to think about that fall all the time. That’s what keeps us on our toes.”

Three years ago the generational transition looked like it would be seamless. When Toulouse won the European and domestic double in 2023/24 they had in their squad a clutch of gifted youngsters, the likes of wing Dimitri Delibes, hooker Guillaume Cramont, centre Paul Costes and the back row pair of Mathis Castro-Ferreira and Léo Banos.
None have kicked on quite as Toulouse had hoped. Costes signed for Racing 92 in the summer, Delibes for Montpellier and Cramont has been loaned to Bayonne this season.

Costes left in part because of the signing of Italy’s brilliant centre Tommaso Menoncello, who arrives from Benetton Treviso. The 24-year-old is one of the world’s best in his position and he will give some bite to Toulouse’s backline.

The clubs most likely to deny Toulouse a record fifth title are Bordeaux and Montpellier.

Bordeaux are chasing a record themselves this season, to join Toulon as the only club to win three consecutive Champions Cup titles. Despite retaining the trophy last season in crushing Leinster, Bordeaux suffered the ignominy of finishing eighth in the Top 14, thereby missing out on the play-offs.

Bru said Bordeaux’s failure to finish in the top six had left “a bitter taste” and they had let down the fans.

It still rankles with Yannick Bru. “We have a duty to do better,” declared Bordeaux’s director of rugby in a recent interview. Bru said the failure to finish in the top six had left “a bitter taste” and they had let down the fans. “An organisation like ours demands innovation, change, new ideas and also a redistribution of roles,” explained Bru. “Past successes are no guarantee of future success, especially in a competitive environment such as ours.”

It’s the philosophy that has underpinned Toulouse’s dominance for so long, and Bru believes that hard-nosed attitude was missing at Bordeaux last season. The person who has paid the price is defence coach Christophe Laussucq. He has been replaced by Aurélien Cologni, a former rugby league player who, prior to joining Bordeaux, had worked as a freelance technical coach with Maxime Lucu, Romain Buros and Nicolas Depoortere . The trio of Bordeaux backs were so impressed they encouraged the club to hire him full-time.

There have also been backroom staff changes at La Rochelle and Toulon, two clubs who have underperformed in recent seasons. Toulon have appointed Franck Azéma their head coach, reporting to Pierre Mignoni, who continues as the director of rugby. Azéma was on the coaching staff at Toulon between 2021 and 2023 before leaving for an unsuccessful stint at Perpignan.

Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle begin the season having completely changed their pre-season training. In the summer of 2025 their South African conditioning coach Stephan Du Toit did three weeks of high intensity fitness training without any ball work. According to Midi Olympique this wasn’t appreciated by some players, and it may not have been a coincidence that the club suffered more muscular injuries than normal last season.

The club that is perhaps best placed to end Toulouse’s domestic dominance this season is Montpellier. Had it not been for their Top 14 triumph in 2022, Toulouse’s winning run would stretch back to 2019.

Du Toit left La Rochelle midway through the season and his replacement, Adrien Vachon, has incorporated more skills and technical training into their fitness routine this summer.

The club that is perhaps best placed to end Toulouse’s domestic dominance this season is Montpellier. Had it not been for Montpellier’s Top 14 triumph in 2022, Toulouse’s winning run would stretch back to 2019.

Last season the Mediterranean club ran them close in the final, but they did win some silverware in the shape of the European Challenge Cup.

Montpellier have recruited well this summer, bringing in Scotland fly-half Adam Hastings, La Rochelle and France prop Reda Wardi and the giant South African lock Ruben van Heerden, who made his Springbok debut against Wales in the summer.

Joan Caudollo, Montpellier’s head coach, said recently that the club is striving to emulate Toulouse’s consistency. “We often ask ourselves how Toulouse are able to keep this motivation to win season after season,” he said. “In reality, once you’ve tasted what we did last season you have this desire to taste it again.”

That’s probably the best word to describe the new Top 14 season: it’s going to be tasty.