Cedate Gomes Sa

Cedate Gomes Sa became a French citizen on 1 February 2018. He won his first France cap the following day, against Ireland.

Note on his current club: Gomes Sa is still listed in Lyon‘s squad data. He joined USA Perpignan in 2026 on two years.

Prop, 1.85m and 113kg. He was born in Canchungo, in Guinea-Bissau, spent a year in Portugal and arrived in France at twelve, in Saint-Nazaire, with his mother looking for work. He found the game through a community scheme called Rugby Cité and joined the local club.

Racing 92 took him into their academy in 2011 and he won the espoirs championship in 2015. His game time grew slowly: by 2017-18 he was playing eight Champions Cup matches, three of them starts.

In November 2017 he played for the French Barbarians against the Māori All Blacks, and days later appeared for a France side missing its front-line players against the All Blacks. That match did not count as a cap, and it caused an argument, because he still held Portuguese nationality at the time. Six years of residency made him eligible under World Rugby’s rules regardless, and the naturalisation settled it.

Jacques Brunel picked him for the whole of the 2018 Six Nations, with a first start against Wales, and called him up again during the 2019 World Cup after Demba Bamba withdrew.

He won the Top 14 with Racing in 2016 and lost three European finals with them, in 2016, 2018 and 2020, the same three as his teammate Camille Chat. Lyon signed him in June 2024, after ten years at the club.

There are not many routes into a France front row that begin with a community scheme in a town with no rugby tradition.