Romain Briatte

Agen went through 2020-21 without winning a championship match and went down. Their captain was Romain Briatte. Three years after that he made his France debut, at thirty-one, against Argentina.

Flanker at Stade Français, 1.94m and 97kg, and 33 years old.

Riom gave him the game at five, at fly-half, and somebody moved him into the back row soon enough. Clermont had him from thirteen and kept him eight years, through every age group and the academy, without a first-team place at the end of it.

So he went to Aurillac in 2014 and took the long way. A debut off the bench against Bourgoin, a first try against Montauban, and inside two seasons the captaincy of a second-division club he stayed at for four years.

Agen brought him up in 2018, signed to replace Antoine Erbani. Toulon came in for him eighteen months later and he turned it down to keep playing, took two more years and the armband, and became one of the crowd’s own. His contract had a release clause if the club went down, which is how a man ends up leaving a side that has just offered him an extension.

Stade Français signed him in 2021 on two years. Nineteen starts came in the first season before an adductor injury ended it, and he was quickly one of the lineout callers. In 2023-24 the club finished second and reached the semi-finals, with twenty-four matches and four tries from him.

France called him that June for the South America tour, the first time in his career. He played the uncapped match against Uruguay on 10 July 2024 and came off the bench against Argentina three days later. One cap.