Taniela Tupou

Taniela Tupou became famous at eighteen, when video of him playing schoolboy rugby in Auckland travelled around the world. He weighs 148kg. In his first match in France, coming on in the 45th minute against Montauban, he scored twice, and did it again two rounds later against Lyon.

Tighthead prop at Racing 92, 1.84m, and 30 years old.

Born in Vaini in Tonga, he left for New Zealand in 2010 to attend Sacred Heart College, and chose Australia in 2015 because part of his family lives there. The Queensland Reds gave him an academy contract, a Super Rugby debut in 2016 and, in 2017, a national second-tier title with Queensland Country, in which he scored four tries in nine matches.

Australia took him into a training squad in October 2016 before he was eligible, and capped him at Murrayfield in November 2017. For two years he was Sekope Kepu’s understudy and one of the most destructive replacements in the game. He played three matches at the 2019 World Cup and started the opener of the 2023 tournament before injury ended it.

A ruptured Achilles cost him the whole of the 2023 Super Rugby season. The Melbourne Rebels signed him for 2024 and were then removed from the competition over their finances, leaving him without a club. He spent a season with the Waratahs before coming to France.

Sixty-nine caps, thirty-five of them starts, and he remains available to Australia after they abandoned the eligibility rule that would have ruled out a Top 14 player.