After five months of competition and around fifteen matches, it is already time to take stock of the behavior of last summer’s recruits. Beyond the talent of the players as such, it is a question here of integration, relevance of choices, optimization or not of potential, relationship between expectations and performance.
As for the nice surprises, Rugby lovers can only rejoice in witnessing the apparent rebirth of Billy Vunipola, ManuTuilagi and Stuart Hogg, from whom we didn’t really know what to expect, or the spectacular emergence of ‘a Temo Matiu or a Lucas Martin…
1. Billy Vunipola
Third center line – Montpellier
32 years old – 74 caps (England)
Previous club: Saracens
13 Top 14 matches this season – 5 points
Icon Sport – Alexandre Dimou
When his signing was made official by the MHR, we must admit that we had some doubts about the level of performance of the former tank of the XV de la Rose: he was no longer a starter with Saracens and therefore had disappeared radars of his selection, and had been talked about for a too drunken night in Spain. Legitimate doubts therefore, which were however swept away in a few weeks: time for the youngest Vunipola to show unfailing commitment and impressive consistency in all his appearances, and above all to quickly become one of the leaders of this Montpellier team. Leader in the fight, but also in the example, as he spreads around him the level of demands which made him a world-class player, who was one of the most feared of his time.
2. Wildlife
Center – Bayonne
33 years old – 60 caps (England)
Previous club: Sale
8 Top 14 matches this season – 0 points
Icon Sport – Sandra Ruhaut
It must be said: when Bayonne formalized the signing of Manu Tuilagi for two seasons, there were as many questions as there were cheers. Which player had the Basques just recruited? The star of the 2010s, the bomb of the English midfielder who made all three-quarters of the rugby world shudder? Or the more discreet one, often injured too, who went through the last English championships in a certain anonymity? To get the answer, we had to wait a few matches, six to be exact, while he got back on his feet. Since then, everyone has understood… Always as explosive and powerful on impact, Manu Tuilagi adds to his Bayonne adventure a certain wisdom, that of experience, which makes him a regulator of the three-quarter line. Good pick, then? Oh yes!
3. Temo Matthew
Third line – Bordeaux-Bègles
23 ans
Previous club: Biarritz
11 Top 14 matches this season – 20 points
Icon Sport – Romain Biard
With Temo Matiu, everything always goes very quickly! The son of former international Legi Matiu is definitely quickly familiarizing himself with new environments. While he only started rugby after Covid, he made his debut in Pro D2 with Biarritz after only a few months. A notable and remarkable debut since he only remained at the BO for two short seasons. Recruited by the Bordeaux-Bègles Union, Temo Matiu arrived on tiptoe, but very quickly put his qualities at the service of the Gironde collective. Aerial, fast, agile, robust, he has all the qualities to shine at the highest level. This season, he has already distinguished himself with very high-level performances. The UBB, always in search of a first title, has surely taken with Matiu an X factor that could allow it to go even higher…
4. Joris Segond
Opener – Bayonne
27 ans
Previous club: Stade français
13 Top 14 matches this season – 95 points
Icon Sport – Baptiste Fernandez
The mission was not simple for the former Aurillacois: early committed to Rowing Bayonnais in the middle of last season, Joris Segonds knew that he was arriving on the Basque Coast with the heavy task of taking over from Camille Lopez, the idol of a people in the twilight of his career. Lopez, in Bayonne, is the metronome: when he goes, everything goes. And Segonds achieves the feat of taking his steps. Decisive against the poles (98 points scored) including at the end of a suspenseful match, inspired in the game, he gradually emerges from the shadow of his glorious elder to share the playing time almost equally ( present on the fifteen match sheets this season, starting eight times). And if Lopez will extend the pleasure (again) for another year, until 2026, it is to finalize the handover. In Bayonne, the future boss is called Segonds.
5. Stuart Hogg
Back or opener – Montpellier
32 years old – 100 caps (Scotland)
Previous club: Exeter
7 Top 14 matches this season – 35 points
Icon Sport – Alexandre Dimou
Like his teammate Billy Vunipola, we could have some doubts about the recruitment of the Scot, who had not played an official match for almost a year and a half. Except that the centurion of the XV du Chardon was able to seize this opportunity with both hands: first by arriving in a physical condition which was not far from optimal, showing from the first weeks of training that he still had a nice burst of speed, and above all with a contagious determination which, like that of Vunipola, infuses the Hérault group. On the field, Hogg’s versatility in 10-15 is very valuable, because the MHR has few solutions at the opening. Above all, he shines with his precision on his feet: last weekend, he was one of the great architects of the victory in Clermont by scoring 17 points on his feet. A dad, we tell you.
6. Guillaume Ducat
Second line – Castres
28 years old – 1 selection (France)
Previous club: Pau
10 Top 14 matches this season – 0 points
Icon Sport – Icon Sport
Guillaume Ducat, 28 years old (2.05 m, 115 kg), arrived from Pau last July, has already become one of the centerpieces of the Olympic Castres. With his double-meter and his sense of timing, he brought his knowledge of the touch to make the Castres alignment much more efficient than it was last season. Always the holder in the eleven matches in all competitions in which he participated, the ex-Palois, revealed in Tarbes and passed through Bayonne, forms with the indestructible Leone Nakarawa the complementary and effective second line pair that the CO was looking for for its XV kind. The international (a selection with the Blues in 2020 against England) established himself in a position without Tom Staniforth (injured and unavailable for almost the entire season) but which includes boys such as Paul Jedrasiak or Florent Vanverberghe. Strong.
7. Thomas Ceyte
Second line – Clermont
33 ans
Previous club: Bayonne
13 Top 14 matches this season – 10 points
Icon Sport – Icon Sport
Thomas Ceyte’s career goes from surprise to (good) surprise. A trajectory that began at the base of the pyramid, in Fédérale 1 with his training club, Aubenas, until he was 24. Then the Pro D2 where he wore the colors of Dax, Béziers and especially Nevers, for five seasons (2017-2022).
A good pick for Bayonne recruitment in the summer of 2022, he had two accomplished seasons in the Basque country to move up a notch, last summer, by signing with Clermont.
At 33 years old, the Ardéchois has never seemed so strong. Active in the current game, solid fighter, he is already a basic man in Christophe Urios’ system. An executive from the Auvergne locker room, who has thirteen tenures out of fifteen possible. And if he erased his sin of indiscipline, we wouldn’t be far from a very good move for ASM this season.
8. Will Collier
Right pillar – Castres
33 years old – 2 caps (England)
Previous club: Harlequins
10 Top 14 matches this season – 15 points
Icon Sport – Romain Biard
To say that the Castres leaders were well inspired to look at Will Collier’s CV is an understatement. The experienced right pillar from Harlequins and English international for both selections is currently ticking all the boxes for the missions for which he was recruited. A formidable scrum pillar, the Tarn building is never as powerful as when the Englishman is on the field. The staff is not mistaken since it is they who play most of the Top 14 matches and all the matches that count; most often relegating its competitors to the role of impact player. Above all, beyond his sporting qualities, the Englishman fits perfectly with the “CO project” and with the idea that this club has of its recruits: Will Collier blended perfectly into the Castres environment and always seems to have wore the colors of the CO, barely six months after his arrival.
9. Arthur Retiere
Winger or scrum half – Bordeaux-Bègles
27 years old – 1 selection (France)
Previous club: Toulouse
7 Top 14 matches this season – 10 points
Icon Sport – Romain Biard
After six seasons spent at La Rochelle and two at Stade Toulouse, Arthur Retière seems to be doing like a charm in his new club UBB with whom he has had a string of great performances in this first half of the season. As proof, we want its try counter which recently opened and now has two units with one achievement in Vannes and another last weekend against Toulon. Let us also mention his very good performance in the Champions Cup against Leicester. Comfortable on both sides of the attack, the ex-Toulouse player seems to appreciate the freedom that the Gironde staff gives him and which allows him to dezone to intervene in different places on the pitch. With Retière, Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud and Uberti, we can say that the wings of the Gironde attack do not lack qualities…
10. Lucas Martin
Hooker – Bayonne
22 ans
Previous club: Provence Rugby
9 Top 14 matches this season – 15 points
Icon Sport – Johnny Fidelin
Lucas Martin is the personified definition of a good recruitment pick. Before arriving in Bayonne, he had just made a name for himself on the “Pro D2” floor, without having burst onto the media screen. Wisely, it was him that the Aviron recruiters went to unearth to complete the competition for the number 2 position. They were well rewarded: former third line of training, a position that he still occupied in his early days in professional at Provence Rugby, Martin is an extremely dynamic and active hooker in the running game, without neglecting the fundamentals of the position. Result: arriving on tiptoe, he quickly made a place for himself in the Bayonne squad (11 matches, 5 starts). At only 22 years old, the future belongs to him. It looks radiant.
