Léon Darricarrère

His first Top 14 start came against La Rochelle, the club that taught him to play. Later that season he played at Castres, where his father was the coach.

Léon Darricarrère’s first start in the Top 14 was against La Rochelle, the club where he first played as a five-year-old. Four months later Clermont went to Castres, where his father David was the head coach, and he set up a try for Bautista Delguy in a 23-20 away win.

He is a centre at Clermont, 1.87m and 98kg, and from Mont-de-Marsan.

The academy years were unusually itinerant. La Rochelle in 2009, Stade Montois from 2011, Castres from 2013, back to Mont-de-Marsan in 2016, and finally Clermont in 2021 on a three-year deal alongside his friends Baptiste Jauneau and Cyriac Guilly, all three out of the Bayonne pôle espoirs. He was played at flanker and full-back along the way before settling in midfield.

France kept nearly picking him. A sixty-man Under-20 camp in December 2021, cancelled by Covid, and no place in the squad afterwards. A development tour against Ireland in April 2022. A European title with the France Under-18 sevens side that July. One appearance in the 2023 Under-20 Six Nations, off the bench for Arthur Mathiron against Scotland. Selected for the 2023 Junior World Championship and then forced to withdraw days later, so he missed the tournament France won.

Christophe Urios put him on a matchday squad in September 2023 after Irae Simone and Pierre Fouyssac both dropped out. He started at inside centre alongside Julien Hériteau, played about an hour and Clermont won 11-10. He extended to 2027 that October.

His first try for the club came in the Challenge Cup away at Black Lion. He started the 2024 Under-20 Six Nations finale against England, a 45-31 home defeat.

A big, physical midfielder who is comfortable at 12 or 13 and has been in a first-team squad since he was nineteen. What he needs now is a season of starts rather than a season of cover.