Toulouse: The Stadium

In French, 'rugby' rhymes with 'Toulouse'. Indeed, the Pink City has been considered the capital of Gallic rugger for many years. Unthinkable, therefore, that the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup would pass over Toulouse - in fact, the second France-Namibia match (among others) will be held there, and all 37,000 seats are sure to be claimed.

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Inaugurated in 1949 after 13 years of construction work, the arena was originally conceived for bull-fighting. At that time, the Toulouse rugby team had (and still has) its own stadium, the Stade des Sept Deniers, renamed Stade Ernest Wallon (20,000 seats). Shortly thereafter, the Stadium was adopted by the city's footballers, also hosting the more important rugby matches such as the French Blues or other major battles.

Commissioned for the 1998 World Cup, it was completely renovated and modernised. Unfortunately, in 2001 the disastrous AZF chemical plant explosion damaged the structure extensively - it would take over a year and nearly €600,000 to get it back into shape.

Since then, The Stadium lives for the exploits of the Toulouse Football Club, one of the stars of France's Ligue 1 - the TFC is preparing for the Champion's League playoffs. But during the Rugby World Cup, The Stadium will naturally take a break from football and open its arms to the oval ball.

Four Rugby Union World Cup matches will be held there: Fiji v Japan (12 September), France v Namibia (16 September), Romania v Portugal (25 September), and, finally, New Zealand v Romania (29 September).