Swan Rebbadj

Swan Rebbadj scored a try on his first start for France, against Scotland in the 2021 Six Nations, deputising for the suspended Paul Willemse. He plays for the club two of his uncles played for in the late 1980s, alongside his younger brother.

He locks the scrum at Toulon, is 2.01m and 115kg, and is 31.

Born into a family of Algerian origin, he came from Martigues Port-de-Bouc in 2012 and has never played for another club. The first professional contract took five years to arrive, in September 2017.

The French Barbarians used him repeatedly before France did. He was paired with Alexandre Flanquart against the Māori All Blacks at Bordeaux in November 2017 in a 19-15 win, went to New Zealand with them the following June to play the Crusaders and the Highlanders, and started against Tonga in Bordeaux that November.

Fabien Galthié named him in a 31-man squad in November 2020, in the autumn when France were limited to three appearances per player. His first cap came off the bench against Wales in 2021, on for the injured Romain Taofifénua after twenty-two minutes, and the Scotland start followed.

At club level he has been a fixture of the second row through a decade that has produced two Challenge Cup finals, in 2020 and 2022, and no trophy from either.

Fourteen seasons in one place has cost him something. Toulon have signed and discarded a long list of international second rows in that time, and every one of them was competition he had to see off rather than a signing made to complement him.

A tall, athletic lock and a one-club forward, which in the modern French league is close to extinct. Fourteen years at Toulon and counting.