Félix Lambey

Félix Lambey made 21 tackles in the first half against Ireland in the 2019 Six Nations, in a match France lost 26-14. He was named in the provisional squad of 31 for that year’s World Cup and cut from the final list.

Second row at Lyon, 1.96m and 107kg, born in Lons-le-Saunier on 15 March 1994.

He started at five at Club Sportif Lons Jura. The club went into liquidation in 2009 and he carried on in the same town at the Cercle Sportif Lédonien, set up to replace it. Étienne Fourcade, now Clermont’s hooker, did exactly the same thing in the same two clubs.

Lyon took him in 2012. He was meant to play Reichel rugby and was promoted straight into the espoirs, and spent 2015-16 on loan at Béziers in Pro D2. He signed his first professional contract on 12 June 2017, was made co-captain alongside Baptiste Couilloud in 2019-20, and extended to 2027 before last season.

He played five matches in the 2014 Under-20 Six Nations and five at that year’s junior world championship.

In 2018, without having played a match in the campaign, the France staff sent him out of the Six Nations squad along with several other players after a late night out that ended with them being questioned by police the following day. He missed the Italy match.

His first cap came off the bench against the All Blacks in the summer of 2018 and his second against Fiji that November. Jacques Brunel explained the World Cup omission as a withdrawal during preparation, and preferred the versatility of Arthur Iturria and Bernard Le Roux.

The French Barbarians picked him four times: against Australia in 2016, twice against South Africa A in 2017, and against Tonga at Gerland in 2021.

He won the Challenge Cup with Lyon in 2022 and lost the final in 2025.

A tall, orthodox lineout lock who has spent his whole senior career at one club in his own region, in a French second-row generation as competitive as any in the world.