A two-time world champion on the bench, a little-known hooker in the front row: the best XV of out-of-contract Top 14 players looks nothing like the headlines suggested. Rank them on minutes played in 2025-26 and it is the unsung men who take over, not the stars.

The method

To pick this XV we went on actual game time from the 2025-26 season: matches played and starts in the Top 14. At each position, the most-used out-of-contract player takes the shirt. The surprise: several stars played so little this season that they owe their place only to a lack of competition.

The best XV of out-of-contract players (2025-26 game time)

No. Position Player Club Mins Starts
1 Prop Giorgi Melikidze Stade Français 1102 13
2 Hooker Giacomo Nicotera Stade Français 1066 17
3 Prop Sione Mafileo Montauban 535 8
4 Lock Rob Simmons Clermont 918 10
5 Lock Kane Douglas La Rochelle 454 9
6 Flanker Sikhumbuzo Notshe Montauban 823 9
7 Flanker Mahamadou Diaby Montpellier 468 6
8 No. 8 Baptiste Chouzenoux Bayonne 370 4
9 Scrum-half Naoto Saito Toulouse 489 4
10 Fly-half Gareth Anscombe Bayonne 165 2
11 Wing Manex Ariceta Bayonne 294 0
12 Centre Irae Simone Clermont 571 5
13 Centre Jérémy Sinzelle Toulon 993 12
14 Wing Jordan Petaia Perpignan 495 5
15 Full-back Thomas Larregain Montauban 220 3

The bench: Étienne Falgoux (364 mins), Ma’a Nonu (306), Ultan Dillane (295), Suliasi Vunivalu (231), Pierre Fouyssac (211), Leone Nakarawa (168), Seilala Lam (92), Olivier Klemenczak (35).

The stars pushed onto the bench

The first lesson comes down to a handful of minutes. Ma’a Nonu, 44, spent just 306 minutes on the pitch for Toulon. Fiji’s Leone Nakarawa (168 minutes) and Wales’ Gareth Anscombe (165 minutes) did little better. The Bayonne fly-half keeps the No. 10 shirt only for want of another specialist.

The workhorses who carry this XV

The starters in this side, by contrast, are the men who played the most this season. Top of the minutes chart, Georgian prop Giorgi Melikidze (1,102 minutes) and Italian hooker Giacomo Nicotera (1,066 minutes), Stade Français’ two mainstays, played very nearly everything. Their contracts running down does not mean their departure is settled: an extension in Paris remains entirely possible.

Australian lock Rob Simmons (918 minutes), on the other hand, will not be kept on by Clermont and is genuinely on the market, as is the versatile Jérémy Sinzelle (993 minutes), one of the experienced heads in this fifteen. Senior men who have earned their place here.

Two names have already dropped off the list. Prop Pascal Cotet, briefly without a club, has landed at Provence Rugby. And centre Irae Simone, a starter in this XV, has signed in Japan with the Green Rockets Tokatsu.

Game time: itsrugby data (Top 14 2025-26). Positions and contract situations: allrugby.com, Rugbyrama.