Alexandre Bécognée

Alexandre Bécognée was let go by Bordeaux-Bègles at under-18 level for the wrong reason to be let go for. He was judged too small to play lock and not skilful enough to play in the back row. Six years later he started a French championship final and won it.

He plays in the back row for Montpellier, is 1.88m and 105kg, and is 29.

Born in Bordeaux, he did not pick up a ball until he was 14, at the Entente des Graves. A season at Stade Bordelais followed, the club where his father Olivier had played, then the year at Bordeaux-Bègles that ended in rejection. He dropped to CABBG with no realistic hope of a professional career.

David Auradou is the reason there was one. He brought him to Stade Montois in 2015, where he finished his schooling in the espoirs side and won a national under-23 title against Oyonnax in 2016. A first professional contract came in 2017 and his debut that August against Biarritz. Three seasons in Pro D2 brought 59 matches and four tries.

The move to the Hérault came in the summer of 2020, on two years. The back row he walked into held Fulgence Ouedraogo, Louis Picamoles, Yacouba Camara, Kélian Galletier, Caleb Timu and Jacques du Plessis, and he still played 22 times in his first season. In the 2021 Challenge Cup final against Leicester he started alongside Ouedraogo and Camara, and won it 18-17.

France capped him on 17 July 2021 in Australia, on for Dylan Cretin with eighteen minutes left. It remains his only cap, though he was named in squads for the 2022 autumn and the 2023 Six Nations without playing.

The Top 14 title arrived on 24 June 2022, a 29-10 win over Castres with Bécognée starting alongside Zach Mercer. A second Challenge Cup followed in 2026, and a losing final in the same year.

An impact forward who became a starter by being useful in every phase rather than dominant in one.