Clovis Le Bail

Clovis Le Bail is 1.73m and weighs 74kg. In a competition built on collisions there is nobody smaller, and France have twice named him in a squad without giving him a cap.

Scrum-half at Toulon, and 30 years old.

Nantes is not a rugby city and the Stade Nantais rugby school is where he started, at five. He won a national junior title there in 2013 and left for the Pau under-23s the following year. His brother Jules is also a professional, and the two of them came off the bench together against La Rochelle in 2016 for his first senior appearance.

Seven seasons in Béarn followed, most of them spent behind somebody. He deputised for Thibault Daubagna from 2018, lost ground when Samuel Marques arrived in 2019, and finally got a proper run of rugby in 2020-21. A fractured fibula ended his 2022-23 season in March.

That same month, still under contract at Pau until 2024, he signed for Racing 92. The move did not work. Nolann Le Garrec had the shirt, Le Bail made his debut coming on for him, and two seasons later he left for the coast.

Fabien Galthié called him up in July 2021 for the Australia tour and again that November as cover for Baptiste Couilloud. He did not play either time.

The size is the whole story of the career. Every French coach who has picked him has had to weigh what he does with the ball against what happens when a 120kg forward runs at him, and most of them have decided against. He has made a professional living for a decade anyway.

A quick, low nine who survives in the Top 14 on speed of thought rather than size, and who has spent almost his whole career as somebody’s deputy.