Picamoles returns to Toulouse

French international Louis Picamoles returned to light training for Toulouse after a lengthy lay-off.

The versatile loose forward was sidelined with a lung disease that kept him out of the game since France's tour to Australia.

Unsure of Picamoles' expected return date, coach Guy Noves was happy with the progress he has made.

"He is better and has returned to running. They told me a month but you never know," he said.

The 28-year-old ran for about 15 minutes with a physical trainer at the Top 14 club's training centre in the south of France.

Toulouse has suffered their worst losing run in 36 years after they crashed to their forth successive defeat in the competition.

The four-time European champions find themselves in ninth position, 13 points behind leaders Clermont.

SAPA