Lyam Akrab

Lyam Akrab scored seven tries in the 2025 under-20 Six Nations. The record he matched belonged to Elliot Daly, from 2011, and Daly was a wing. Akrab is a hooker. He was voted the best player in the tournament and France won it.

He hooks for Montpellier, stands 1.78m, weighs 98kg and is 20 years old.

Grenoble is where he was born and where he learned the game, at Grésivaudan Belledonne in Villard-Bonnot and then for a year at FC Grenoble. The Montpellier academy took him in 2020, at fifteen.

France called him up in February 2024 when Robin Couly was injured, and he won his first under-20 cap off the bench against Scotland. Three months later he made his senior debut, replacing Christopher Tolofua against Stade Toulousain. He scored his first professional try against the Ospreys in the Challenge Cup that December.

Then came the tournament. He started all five under-20 matches in 2025, scored the seven, and collected the Midi Olympique young player award on top of the player-of-the-tournament vote. A junior world championship followed that June.

His club won the Challenge Cup in 2026 and lost a Top 14 final in the same season, with Akrab behind an established international hooker and learning the position at senior level.

Short for a modern hooker and quick for one, which is the combination that produced the tries. The throw and the scrum are what the next three years are for. Twenty years old, with the most decorated junior season any French hooker has had.