Matthias Halagahu

Matthias Halagahu took his first licence at four, at the club where his father played, and never left the Var. He was starting Top 14 matches at nineteen, in a squad whose second row also held Eben Etzebeth, Romain Taofifénua, Swan Rebbadj and Brian Alainu’uese.

He locks the scrum for Toulon, is 1.94m and 122kg, and is 25.

Born in Fréjus and of Wallisian descent, he grew up at Le Dramont in Saint-Raphaël, admiring a Toulon side that was then winning European Cups. Draguignan gave him the game, the Raphaëlo-Fréjusien club had him next, and Éric Dasalmartini brought him to Toulon at under-15 level and coached him there.

Patrice Collazo took him into senior pre-season in 2019 as a teenager. He debuted against Castres in October 2020, off the bench for Raphaël Lakafia, and started for the first time against Bayonne at Mayol that February, in a heavy home defeat.

Shoulder injuries and the queue ahead of him then cost him two years. Pierre Mignoni’s decision to promote younger players in 2022-23 is what restarted it, and a first professional contract followed at 22, with Alun Wyn Jones alongside him in the second row.

A first France call-up came for the 2024 Six Nations, without a cap attached. The cap came on the summer tour of 2025, starting the second Test against New Zealand at Wellington on 12 July. Two caps so far, both of them starts.

A heavy, physical lock at the age when second rows usually arrive, and the most likely of the current Toulon forwards to become a regular international.