A contract extension is measured by what one club keeps and what the other misses out on. Either way, the numbers point to the same place.

Five more seasons, until 2032

Emmanuel Meafou is extending with Stade Toulousain. Out of contract at the end of the season, the lock turned down a four-year offer from Stade Français worth around 50,000 euros net a month according to La Dépêche, more than Toulouse’s initial offer.

The new deal covers five seasons, until 2032. Rugbyrama and La Dépêche report that the final year is optional, while RMC says it is guaranteed: either way, Meafou is tied to Toulouse until at least June 2031.

The club was able to close the gap thanks to a tax advantage granted by the French authorities, a legal scheme available to players who move from abroad. The Australian-born giant, 2.03 m and 145 kg, became a French citizen in November 2023 and has won 18 caps since 2024.

Seven seasons, 144 games

He signed for Toulouse in December 2018 with nobody expecting much, played his first professional game a year later, and his first season amounted to three team sheets, two in the Top 14 and one in the Champions Cup, for 87 minutes in total. Seven years on, he has 144 games and 7,861 minutes in the red and black shirt, including 103 starts.

The breakdown shows the progression. Two league games in his first year, then 23, 16, 23, 13, 16 and 13. In Europe, he went from two appearances over two seasons to a permanent starter: 31 starts in his 36 European games, including seven out of seven in the double-winning season.

The year he became indispensable

His benchmark season remains 2022-23, the year of the club’s second European title: 23 Top 14 games for 1,417 minutes, his record at the club, and seven starts out of seven in the Champions Cup for 496 minutes.

Last season followed a different logic, that of a player being managed. Only thirteen Top 14 games, but twelve starts out of thirteen, and 790 minutes. The ratio has flipped: he plays less often, but almost always from the start.

Galthié’s most-used player

It is at international level that his importance has grown the most. Of the eleven games France played between the November 2025 Tests and the summer tour, Emmanuel Meafou played nine. No other player on the list of thirty-three protected players did better, with Oscar Jegou the only one to match him.

Adding up league, European and international games, his 2025-26 season comes to 1,586 minutes, 441 of them for France, or 28% of his total playing time.

That workload also explains why he is on the list of internationals whose playing time will be monitored this season: he had already reached the cap of nine appearances out of twelve before it even existed.

What Toulouse keep

On 1 September 2027, roughly when the World Cup in Australia kicks off, Meafou will be 29 years and 1 month old. He is one of only three protected Toulouse players who will still be in their twenties, with Romain Ntamack and Pierre-Louis Barassi, in a group whose median age is over 31.

Two games and 100 minutes so far this season, including one start and a try against Union Bordeaux-Bègles.