Baptiste Pesenti

Baptiste Pesenti has been sent off three times in the Top 14. The second, on 27 December 2020, was a shoulder to the head of Lester Etien, who plays alongside him now.

Lock at Stade Français, 1.95m and 118kg, and 29 years old.

Saint-Claude in the Jura is where he started, and his great-aunt Muriel Mandrillon was French slalom champion in 1975. A sport-études place at Lycée Mermoz took him to Montpellier and their rugby school, though he never played for the first team there.

Pau signed him on a three-year academy contract in 2016 and he made his professional debut that October in Europe against Cardiff. Fourteen championship matches and four tries followed in 2017-18, twenty-one the season after. The first red arrived in March 2019, for a dangerous tackle on Thomas Darmon.

He asked to be released in June 2021 and Racing paid Pau half a million euros to let him go early. It went badly. A shoulder injury against Perpignan that October needed surgery and five months, and he finished a four-year contract’s opening season on eleven appearances, his only try coming against Pau. Every knockout match he played in Europe that spring was off the bench, including one minute of a last-sixteen tie.

Paris took him in June 2022 on a deal to 2026. He started the opening round against Clermont, then ruptured ankle ligaments on Boxing Day and lost three months. A third red, for a tackle on Filipo Nakosi in February 2025, brought a six-week ban. His first points for the club came in September 2025, a try against Montauban, with another at Pau a week later.

France capped him against Italy in November 2020 as cover for Cameron Woki, and started him in the Autumn Nations Cup final lost after extra time at Twickenham. Six caps.

Note on his current club: Pesenti is still listed in Stade Français‘s squad data. In mid-June 2026 the Section Paloise confirmed his return for 2026-27, on a contract to June 2028 with two further seasons optional.