Lenni Nouchi

Lenni Nouchi captained France to the junior world championship in 2023, beating Ireland 50-14 in the final and scoring in it. In his second senior Test, against Argentina a year later, he made twenty-five tackles from twenty-six attempts.

Flanker at Montpellier, 1.92m and 106kg, and 22 years old.

His father Samuel played the game and coached him at Béziers, and his first name comes from Legi Matiu, a former teammate and friend of his father. Two older brothers played before him. He won national age-grade cups with Béziers at under-15 and under-16, captaining and scoring twice in the second of them, and joined the Montpellier academy in June 2021.

A Top 14 debut came at Castres in October 2022 and a first start against Toulon a month later, won away from home. The 2023 under-20 Six Nations made his name: two yellow cards in the first two rounds, then the captaincy against Scotland in the absence of Nicolas Depoortère and Émilien Gailleton, and two tries in a 54-12 win.

March 2024 brought three tries in one match at Oyonnax, his first in the league, while captaining his club for the third time that season. France capped him that July in Argentina, a late replacement for Judicaël Cancoriet. Eight caps have followed, three of them starts, and he was part of the squad that won the 2026 Six Nations.

The back row he grew up in at junior level, alongside Oscar Jégou and Marko Gazzotti, is now most of a France back row. He is the youngest of the three and has some catching up to do.