Teddy Thomas, the forgotten man outscoring France’s wings

At 33, the Toulouse wing has never scored so quickly.

His try against Perpignan on 24 October took Teddy Thomas to 82 in the Top 14. Only Vincent Clerc (101), Maxime Medard (91), Aurelien Rougerie (88) and Napolioni Nalaga (86) have scored more in the history of the championship. Thomas reached the mark at 33 years and one month, later than Clerc (31) and Medard (32), earlier than Rougerie (34). He needs 5 more to pass Nalaga, 7 for Rougerie, 10 for Medard and 20 for Clerc’s record.

Ahead of France’s wings

Since the start of the 2025-26 season, the Toulouse wing has scored 17 Top 14 tries. Only Lyon’s Jiuta Wainiqolo (24) has scored more over that period. None of the seven wings and full-backs called up by Fabien Galthie for the Nations Championship has more, and only one scores faster.

Louis Bielle-Biarrey remains the benchmark, with a try every 90 minutes. Thomas follows at 98, well clear of the rest. Yet his last France cap came on 17 July 2021, in Australia.

More effective at 33 than at 28

Across his Top 14 career, Thomas scores a try every 147 minutes. During his three seasons at La Rochelle, aged 28 to 31, it was one every 228 minutes (15 tries in 51 matches). At Toulouse the rate has more than doubled: 17 tries in 27 matches, 12 of them last season, his best return in a single campaign.

Breaking lines from the kick-off

Thomas hurts teams early. Of his 82 Top 14 tries, 24 came in the first 20 minutes, his most productive spell (29 per cent), against 20 between the 21st and 40th, 19 between the 41st and 60th and 19 after that. Half of his tries came before the 39th minute: among the wings and full-backs picked by Galthie, none scores as early in matches, ahead of Penaud (41st) and Bielle-Biarrey (44th).

Those tries come from line breaks. Since 2025 he has made 25 clean breaks in the Top 14, one every 67 minutes: only Bielle-Biarrey (55) and Penaud (62) break more often. But he is the most clinical, with 17 tries from 25 breaks, while Penaud, with as many breaks, has scored only 9. His 25 offloads, against 14 for Bielle-Biarrey, show he can keep the move alive too.

Toulouse even moved him to centre against Perpignan to cover absences, and he scored in the 13 shirt, although 60 of his 82 tries came wearing 14. All 17 of his Toulouse tries have come as a starter, in 19 starts.

His tries count: his team has won 44 of the 62 Top 14 matches in which he scored, 71 per cent. He has scored 51 tries at home, with 18 braces or hat-tricks, and his favourite opponents remain Stade Francais (13 tries), Clermont (11) and Bordeaux-Begles (10).

110 tries including Europe

In the Champions Cup he has 28 tries: 19 for Racing 92, 4 for La Rochelle and 5 for Toulouse. That is one fewer than Bielle-Biarrey (29), in a competition where Chris Ashton holds the record (41). With the Top 14, Teddy Thomas has 110 tries in the two major club competitions.