Plenty of people in Toulouse have circled 25 July. Four years after the Catalans Dragons first visited Ernest-Wallon, the all-French Super League derby returns to the Stade Toulousain ground for round 20, with real sporting stakes and a record attendance hoped for.

Plenty of people in Toulouse have circled 25 July. Four years after the Catalans Dragons first visited Ernest-Wallon, the all-French Super League derby returns to the Stade Toulousain ground for round 20, with real sporting stakes and a record attendance hoped for.

The decider, with eighth place at stake

Each side has won one this season: the Dragons won 33-26 in early April, before Toulouse’s demolition job on 4 July in Castres (60-18). In the table, the Catalans sit eighth on 16 points, two clear of TO in ninth. A win would take Toulouse ahead on points difference; the Dragons, for their part, would push their rivals four points adrift.

TO v Dragons derbies in Super League Score
14/04/2022 (Perpignan) Dragons 18-10 TO
25/08/2022 (Ernest-Wallon) TO 14-24 Dragons
04/04/2026 Dragons 33-26 TO
04/07/2026 (Castres) Dragons 18-60 TO

The momentum runs in opposite directions. Toulouse are riding three straight wins (Dragons, St Helens, York) in July, while the Catalans have lost six of their last seven outings, including a heavy 46-4 at St Helens last Friday. “We concede 18 to 24 points in ten minutes. At this level you cannot hope to win matches like that,” said John Cartwright, who is expecting a response: “It is a derby, that should motivate them.” Centre Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet made no attempt to hide the wounded pride: “The defeat at the weekend is a disgrace for us.”

An attendance record in sight, with France women as curtain-raiser

In 2022, the Dragons’ first visit to Ernest-Wallon drew 9,168 spectators for a Catalan win (24-14). President Dubois’ club hope to do better and are targeting 10,000, with tickets in heavy demand and neighbouring clubs mobilised, Saint-Gaudens among them.

The evening starts as early as 6pm with a quality curtain-raiser: the France women’s rugby league side host England, the first of their three warm-up tests before the World Cup (17 October to 17 November in Australia and Papua New Guinea), ahead of Nigeria on 1 August in Perpignan and Ireland on 19 September in Mérignac. Against an England side that reached the semi-finals of the last two editions, and who beat them 42-0 at the same ground in June 2024, Alan Walsh’s team (with eleven players from Lescure and six from Saint-Estève/XIII Catalan) will measure how far they have come. The derby will be broadcast on Rugbyrama Live, kick-off at 9pm.