The back row is where the big stories of the next off-season lie. Five leading players are entering the final year of their contracts, and their game time last season tells two different stories.
The back row is where the big stories of the next off-season lie. Five leading players are entering the final year of their contracts, and their game time last season tells two different stories.
The numbers from the 2025-2026 season
| Player | Age | Club | Top 14 matches | Starts | Tries | Champions Cup matches |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marko Gazzotti | 21 | Union Bordeaux-Bègles | 18 | 12 | 4 | 4 |
| Esteban Capilla | 23 | Bayonne | 17 | 16 | 10 | 1 |
| Pierre Bochaton | 25 | Union Bordeaux-Bègles | 16 | 12 | 1 | 4 |
| Anthony Jelonch | 30 | Stade Toulousain | 10 | 9 | 3 | 6 |
| François Cros | 32 | Stade Toulousain | 9 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
The contrast is clear. The three players under 26 carried the workload: Gazzotti played eighteen rounds of the Top 14, Capilla seventeen including sixteen starts, Bochaton sixteen. The two Toulouse players featured in fewer than ten league games, but Jelonch made six European appearances.
One figure stands out: Capilla’s ten Top 14 tries, more than the other four combined (nine).
Three cases at Bordeaux-Bègles
Union Bordeaux-Bègles are the most exposed club. Two of their international back rows, Gazzotti and Bochaton, come out of contract at the same time. The Gironde club’s management have made extending Gazzotti, 21 and a two-time Champions Cup winner, an open priority.
At the same time, they are tracking Esteban Capilla, who was in the France squad this summer without winning his first cap. The Bayonne player is also being followed by Stade Toulousain and has toured Toulon’s facilities, according to Rugbyrama.
Toulouse: two senior players nearing the end of their deals
In Toulouse, the deadline concerns two established internationals. Anthony Jelonch will be 31 in the summer of 2027, François Cros 33. Their league game time last season, ten and nine matches, reflects the management of a large squad as much as the international calendar.
What happens next depends on two unknowns: how quickly Bordeaux-Bègles tie down their young players, and Capilla’s decision, which will most likely set the chain in motion.
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