Baptiste Veschambre

Opposition clubs used to complain he was in the wrong age group. He was seven, and already too big.

When Baptiste Veschambre was playing under-sevens for his village club in the Cantal, opposing teams used to complain that he had been put in the wrong age group. His coach at the time, Christophe Chaumeil, remembers the arguments. The age group was correct. The child was enormous.

He is 2.03m and 116kg now, at nineteen, and he is a second row who can play blindside. Clermont extended his contract in October 2025.

Veschambre was born in Riom-ès-Montagnes and is from Trizac, a village of a few hundred people. His father farms, his mother is a home nurse. He started rugby at five at the Olympic Rugby Club Riomois. Between twelve and fourteen he also played handball, which he credits for his handling, and he shot rifle and did judo alongside it.

Stade Aurillacois spotted him at fourteen. He did not go. In 2022 he joined Clermont instead, at under-16 level, and moved up into the academy.

France picked him early. The FFR put him in a hundred-player under-16 assessment group in 2023, then in the under-18 side for the 2024 Six Nations Festival, where he played all three matches and scored against Wales. He was selected for the International Series in South Africa that followed, which France withdrew from after the death of Medhi Narjissi.

In February 2025 he tore a meniscus against the Brive Crabos and chose not to have it operated on, because the Clermont juniors were having a good season. Two months later he had no choice. His teammates won the French under-18 championship without him, beating Lyon in the final.

He has been training with the professionals since July 2025 and played the pre-season friendly against Brive.

He is also studying agricultural accountancy, because he intends to take over his father’s farm.

What to watch is whether he gets a Top 14 minute this season. Rob Simmons is 37, and the queue in front of him is thinning.