Pool placing

Toulouse were one of only two sides to win all six pool matches this season. They topped Pool 5 by a whopping 13 points, comfortably ahead of Gloucester Rugby.

Lockdown news

Toulouse’s major recruitment has been restricted to the signings of Australian second row Richie Arnold, who joins brother Rory at the TOP 14 club, and La Rochelle scrum-half Alexi Balès. However, Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Florian Verhaeghe (Montpellier), Sébastien Bézy (ASM Clermont Auvergne) and Gillian Galan (Lyon) have left the four-time European Cup winners.

Quarter-final record

Toulouse have won 11 of their 17 quarter-finals in Europe’s elite club competition, with their most recent success coming last season, when they edged out Racing 92 22-21 in Paris. That ended a run of three losses in the last eight.

European history

Toulouse share the record for most European titles with Leinster Rugby on four, although you have to go back 10 years for their last one. They won the inaugural Heineken Cup in 1996 with a 21-18 extra-time success over Cardiff Blues in the final and lifted it again in 2003 and 2005 before that 2010 triumph.

With the Heineken Champions Cup quarter-finals just around the corner, we are taking an in-depth look at all eight sides who will be competing for a spot in the showpiece final in October and today it is Toulouse’s turn to come under the microscope.