Congratulations got to Toulouse, winners of the 2023/24 European Rugby Champions Cup following victory over Leinster at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, extending their record haul to six titles.
Back in the February 2022 issue of Rugby World, Toulouse’s veteran Samoan star Joe Tekori was reflecting on his time with the French side, which was coming towards an end at that point. They had carried off the Champions Cup in 2021 with victory over La Rochelle and Tekori recalled the effort he had to put into that game.
“I remember Richie Arnold going down in the first ten minutes and our boss Uga Mola calling me and asking if I was ready to go for 70 minutes. I thought, ‘Yeah, why not!’ I just tried my best for the boys, doing it for the team. I was giving it my all as if it was my last ever game. I was dead after that game, so they gave me two weeks off Top 14 action to recover from it!”
Casting ahead to a time just down the road once he had retired, Tekori insisted that, “These young guys will continue the Toulouse way.” The proof appears to be in the pudding – crème brûlée presumably.
You can read more from Tekori here.
