Antoine Gibert

Antoine Gibert was called into the France squad for the 2024 Six Nations as one of only two fly-halves named, after Romain Ntamack ruptured a cruciate ligament. He was picked ahead of Antoine Hastoy, who had been at the World Cup four months earlier. He did not play a minute of the tournament.

Fly-half at Racing 92, 1.77m and 76kg, and 28 years old.

Sèvres is where he was born and his father put him into rugby at five, at Boulogne-Billancourt. Racing took him in 2011 and he has never played for another club. He can play at nine as well as ten, which has been useful and has also kept him from owning either shirt.

His first professional appearance came against Bayonne in February 2017. The run that should have made him came at the start of the 2019-20 season, when Finn Russell and Ben Volavola were both away at the World Cup and he started match after match at fly-half.

The performance most people remember is not a fifteen-a-side one. In February 2020, at the first Supersevens, he scored three tries including two in the final against Pau, won the tournament with his club and was named its best player.

What happened in the 2024 Six Nations is the shape of the career in miniature. Matthieu Jalibert was injured during it and the coaches moved Thomas Ramos up from full-back rather than use the fly-half already in the squad.

A European Cup finalist in 2018 and a national under-23 champion in 2017. Fifteen years at one club, a Top 14 career of real length, and an international record that consists entirely of squad announcements.