Gabin Villiere

Gabin Villière finished school at seventeen with no club, having been passed over at every trial he attended. Rouen took him on a tip from a youth selector. He arrived as a scrum-half, was moved to the wing by Richard Hill, and won a Grand Slam with France six years later.

Winger at Toulon, 1.80m and 88kg, and 30 years old.

Vire in Normandy is where he started, after trying tennis, boxing and karate first. The move to the wing produced 26 tries in 23 matches in 2016-17, a national third-tier title against Mâcon, and a queue of professional clubs he turned down.

What he did instead was play sevens. From 2017 he alternated between Rouen and the France camp at Marcoussis, played the 2018 World Cup in San Francisco, and in 2019 was voted the best player at the Hong Kong tournament, the first Frenchman to win it. Rouen won promotion to Pro D2 in the same period.

Toulon signed him in May 2019. He scored twice in a Challenge Cup semi-final against Leicester in his first season and started the final, which Bristol won 32-19.

Toulon had lost Josua Tuisova, Malakai Fekitoa and Filipo Nakosi that summer, which is how a 23-year-old out of the third division found himself with a route into the side. He took until January to score.

His France call-up came in October 2020 in unusual circumstances: Matthieu Jalibert withdrew and Fabien Galthié replaced a fly-half with a winger. He scored on his debut against Italy, started the Autumn Nations Cup final that England won in extra time, and was a starter for the 2022 Grand Slam. A Challenge Cup followed with his club in 2023.