How Champions Cup tie between Toulouse-Shark was delayed after parachutist got stuck on stadium roof - 'Hard to explain'

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Toulouse's Champions Cup tie with Gallagher Premiership side Sale Sharks was delayed by 40 minutes after a parachutist was caught in the stadium's awning and was left dangling for 30 minutes after helping deliver the match ball. The parachutist was safely rescued by firefighters, and reflected on the incident with a French television channel during the game, which Toulouse went on to win 38-15.

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The kick-off of the Champions Cup round-of-16 tie between Toulouse and Sale Sharks was delayed by 40 minutes after a parachutist delivering the match ball became stuck on the stadium roof.

Following the pre-match warm-ups, three parachutists glided in - and two landed safely on the pitch at the Stadium de Toulouse to deliver the ball.

The third saw his parachute catch on the awning of the stadium roof, and he was left dangling over supporters.

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The spectators in the crowd below were moved until he could be rescued, while stadium staff and Toulouse's lion mascot carried post protectors to place underneath the man. An inflatable rugby pitch was brought in from outside the stadium to give further cushioning.

Thirty minutes passed before firefighters brought the parachutist down to safety using a cherry-picker, with the crowd cheering when they saw he was safe.

Play began at 4:40pm local time, 40 minutes after the game's scheduled start.

During half-time, the parachutist, a soldier from the Muret regiment, spoke to French television channel France 2 and reassured everyone that he was okay.

"I'm doing very well," he said. "Thanks to everyone, the Stade Toulousain team, the Toulouse fire department and all the fans who cheered me on for those long minutes from the roof of the stadium.

"I saw that everyone was looking after me, so I stayed very calm and waited for things to happen."

To the question, "Did you ever worry that the parachute might come unstuck?" he replied, "I was hanging on tight."

Toulouse president and former player Didier Lacroix confirmed that the club would conduct an investigation to find out what happened.

Also speaking to France 2, Lacroix said: "You have to get as much information as possible, and god knows it's difficult at times like these.

"It's hard to explain to players who are three minutes away from a match that there's a parachutist hanging overhead, risking his life. And as luck would have it, the players who took the time to do so were totally understanding.

"Once again, we can verify the efficiency of the public service in France and these magical firefighters, who we've seen in action over the last few weeks. We've already cancelled parachute zones because of the wind, but here the conditions looked good.

"We'll certainly do a little investigation to see what happened."

Reigning champions Toulouse went on to beat Sale 38-15 and secured their place in the quarter-finals against fellow Top 14 side Toulon, who dispatched Gallagher Premiership side Saracens earlier in the weekend.

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