Sacha Lotrian

Scrum-half, then flanker, then hooker, then prop. Perpignan moved him four times before they worked out what he was.

Perpignan started Sacha Lotrian at scrum-half. Then they moved him to the back row in the Crabos, then to hooker, and finally to prop. He is now a loosehead who has played a hundred games for them, which suggests the fourth guess was the right one.

He plays for Clermont, and is 1.80m and 100kg.

Born in Perpignan, he started in the village of Millas because his father pushed him into it, and joined USAP in 2009. His younger brother Mathys is at the club too. He grew up watching Nicolas Mas and has been talked about as his successor, which is a heavy thing to hang on a teenager in that town. He took a vocational baccalauréat in commerce at Lycée Maillol in 2019.

France Under-20s picked him for the last two rounds of the 2019 Six Nations, and he came on in the 28th minute against Italy when Alex Burin got hurt. He was on the long list for that year’s Junior World Championship and did not make the final cut. In 2020 he started against England, was dropped to the bench, then won the shirt back in round three and scored. Covid ended the tournament two matches later.

His professional debut came at nineteen against Soyaux Angoulême. 2020-21 was the breakthrough: thirty of USAP’s thirty-two matches, eight starts, a first try, and promotion to the Top 14 as Pro D2 champions.

He held the starting shirt through his first top-flight season — 24 games, 15 starts, two tries — and captained the side at 22 against La Rochelle, in a match where he dislocated a shoulder and lost two months. A virus took more of that season. He came back, captained again against Bordeaux-Bègles, and played the play-off win over Grenoble that kept USAP up.

Franck Azéma announced his move to Clermont in March 2024. He played his hundredth Perpignan match that June.

A short, low scrummager, which is the build the position rewards.