Alexandre Tchaptchet

Alexandre Tchaptchet came on for Jonathan Wisniewski in the final round of the 2020-21 season, against Agen at Gerland. It was the last match Wisniewski ever played, and the first of Tchaptchet’s career.

At 1.71m and 79kg he is the shortest and lightest player in the Lyon squad. Full-back, born Alexandre Tchaptchet Noutcha in Colombes on 26 September 2001, of Cameroonian descent.

He began at CO Gargenville and joined RC Massy Essonne in 2015, winning the French cadet sevens title in 2017 alongside Jordan Joseph and Joachim Trouabal. Racing 92 approached him. He stayed at Massy, and signed for Lyon in 2020.

France Under-20s picked him in June 2021 for a Six Nations played behind closed doors in Cardiff, where he found two former Massy teammates in Daniel Bibi Biziwu and Léo Barré.

In November 2021 the French Barbarians called him up to play Tonga at Gerland, his own ground. He went onto the bench at the last minute, covering for Henry Chavancy. The Barbarians won 42-17 with six tries, with Félix Lambey in the same squad.

Seventy-nine kilos is a serious disadvantage in a Top 14 back three. Wings in this league now weigh over a hundred, and the aerial contest that decides most full-back play is settled by reach and by who can take contact in the air. Players built like Tchaptchet survive on positioning, on reading the kick early, and on being difficult to catch once they are running. There is very little room for an ordinary afternoon.

Six years after that debut he is still at the club that gave it to him, in a squad carrying two France internationals in the back three. The sevens title and the Barbarians call-up say the talent was identified early. The appearance list says the rest of it has been hard.