Nothing is signed, but the three players named all reach the end of their contracts at the same time.
LOU confirmed on 27 August the arrival of François Cros, signed for three seasons from 1 July 2027. According to Le Progrès, picked up by rugby365 and sports.fr, the Rhône club does not intend to stop there and is targeting three other internationals: Toulouse lock Emmanuel Meafou, Castres lock Tom Staniforth, said to be in advanced negotiations, and Bordeaux back-rower Pierre Bochaton. No club has commented, and nothing is signed at this stage.
What the three names have in common
What links the three targets is not their position but their contract timeline. Meafou and Bochaton come to the end of their contracts in June 2027, exactly when Cros will join Lyon. In other words, LOU are not trying to poach players for the season that is starting, they are building their post-World Cup squad.
| Player | Position | Club | Age | Contract ends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuel Meafou | Lock | Stade Toulousain | 28 | June 2027 |
| Tom Staniforth | Lock | Castres | 32 | not disclosed |
| Pierre Bochaton | Back row | Bordeaux-Bègles | 25 | June 2027 |
Toulouse’s 2027 wall
At Toulouse, the June 2027 deadline accounts for most of the known contract expiries. Six players in the squad reach the end of theirs then, and two of them have already announced their departure: Thomas Ramos to Racing 92, François Cros to LOU. The other four still have to be persuaded to stay, and Meafou is one of them.
| Player | Position | Contract ends | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thomas Ramos | Full-back | June 2027 | joining Racing 92 |
| François Cros | Back row | June 2027 | joining LOU |
| Cyril Baille | Prop | June 2027 | extension pending |
| Dorian Aldegheri | Prop | June 2027 | extension pending |
| Anthony Jelonch | Back row | June 2027 | extension pending |
| Emmanuel Meafou | Lock | June 2027 | extension pending, named by Le Progrès |
The table only lists known deadlines: part of the squad has no public contract end date, starting with Antoine Dupont, tied until 2031, or Thibaud Flament, until 2029. That is also the reason Le Progrès gives for Lyon targeting Meafou rather than his second-row partner.
What the three targets bring
Last season’s figures show three established starters, not gambles.
| Player | Top 14 2025-26 | Starts | European Cup | Caps in 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emmanuel Meafou | 13 | 12 | 6 (Champions Cup) | 2 |
| Tom Staniforth | 20 | 15 | 3 (Champions Cup) | 3 |
| Pierre Bochaton | 16 | 12 | 4 (Champions Cup) | 1 |
Meafou scored four tries in the Top 14 last season, an unusual tally for a lock. Bochaton, a European champion with Bordeaux-Bègles, was born in Lyon and developed at Trévoux, in the Ain, an argument Le Progrès highlights. Staniforth, Australian-born, won his first caps for France this summer.
One club buying, another patching up
The same weekend, Stade Toulousain lost Clément Vergé for around eight months with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament, and Valentin Delpy for three months. The club is also coming off a salary cap fine reduced on appeal from 2.88 to 2.725 million euros.
The Top 14 resumes on 5 September. Lyon host Clermont, and Toulouse travel to La Rochelle the next day.
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