Remi Picquette

Rémi Picquette did not play rugby until he was sixteen, when a family friend who coached at Tourcoing suggested it over a meal. His mother later sent his CV out to second-division clubs to find him an academy place. La Rochelle took him, decided he was not in their plans, and released him.

He locks the scrum for Pau, stands 2.00m, weighs 117kg and is 31.

He is candid about why the first attempt failed. He had gaps, he has said, particularly psychologically. Vannes picked him up in 2017 and he spent four years there learning the parts of second-row play that cannot be taught quickly, the contact area and the lineout, and was named the second division’s player of the week in February 2021.

La Rochelle signed him back that summer. Will Skelton’s absence gave him the opening and he took it comprehensively: two tries against Bath in the pool stage of the Champions Cup, two stolen lineouts against Montpellier in the quarter-final, and five starts in a competition his club won without him playing the final.

France took him to Japan that summer, and Ronan O’Gara picked him for the Barbarians against an All Blacks XV in November 2022, where he started alongside Lekima Tagitagivalu and won 35-31.

A French championship final followed in 2023. Released from his last year of contract in June 2024, he signed four seasons in the Béarn. A late starter who reached a Top 14 final and a France squad from an academy that had let him go.