The French Top 14 is on ESPN Africa, giving fans access to some of the most prolific international players, as well as some hidden gems among the talent pools of both South Africa and their rivals.
Antoine Dupont, the highest-profile name in the league, is back from a long injury layoff – while Jiuta Wainiqolo has been lighting up screens this season.
South African fans have an opportunity to keep up with some of their favourite players, including Dillyn Leyds and Rohan Janse van Rensburg. With the final set for late June, fans have months of Top 14 rugby to enjoy until then.
Considered by some to be the greatest rugby player on the planet, Dupont has won five Top 14 titles and two Champions Cups in a decorated career with Stade Toulousain. Fresh off a Six Nations triumph with France, he has an opportunity to add yet more silverware at club level, with Toulouse once again top of the table.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Bordeaux Bègles
Aged 22, Bielle-Biarrey has already scored a whopping 29 tries for France in 27 caps. He scored nine tries during the Six Nations, breaking the single tournament record and also becoming France’s highest all-time try scorer in the history of the Six Nations.
The winger/fullback is a player who looks set to smash many more records, and it would not be surprising in the slightest if he were to be France’s all-time top try scorer in all internationals by the end of the World Cup cycle.
It is little wonder that former England star Ugo Monye told BBC Rugby Union Weekly that Bielle-Biarrey was the “Erling Haaland of the rugby world”.
Dillyn Leyds, La Rochelle
The La Rochelle veteran is capable of playing as a winger, fullback or fly-half. Having burst onto the high school scene at Bishops, Leyds became a mainstay at Western Province following a successful run at UCT Ikey Tigers.
He had a stint playing in Australia in 2014, but has more recently become a respected player in the Northern Hemisphere through his stint with La Rochelle, which began in 2020.
Jiuta Wainiqolo, LOU
The league’s leading try scorer this season, Wainiqolo has 15 tries to date in 2025-26 for Lyon Olympique Universitaire. That puts the 27-year-old flying Fiji winger five tries ahead of the chasing pack at the time of writing.
Cyril Baille, Toulouse
Toulouse not only has arguably the best player and scrumhalf in World Rugby, but one of its best props too. Baille has won three Six Nations titles for France and has been playing for Toulouse since 2012. The success shows no signs of stopping for the 32-year-old, who plays in a position which affords more potential for longevity than most.
Jack Willis, Toulouse
Willis, who is Dupont’s Toulouse teammate, has dethroned him as the reigning Top 14 Player of the Year. This capped a remarkable turnaround for the English flanker – who has 14 caps for his country but has seen his international career been put on hold after his move to France from Wasps after they entered administration.
Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Bordeaux Bègles
Janse van Rensburg’s work at centre is the stuff of South African rugby folklore – particularly his partnership with Lionel Mapoe for the Lions in their golden Super Rugby era a decade ago. Now on the books of Bordeaux Bègles, the 2024-25 Champions Cup winner continues to secure accolades.
Harry Plummer, Clermont Auvergne
Clermont Auvergne’s New Zealand flyhalf is the joint-top points scorer in the Top 14 this season at the time of writing. His superb work rate makes him a valuable asset and he is capable of thinking on his feet and scoring tries and drop goals.
Romain Ntamack, Toulouse
Ntamack missed France’s triumphant Six Nations campaign due to a hamstring injury and kidney issues. Now back in action for Toulouse, he will be out to prove that he is still France’s best no.10 – or, at the very least, one of them. The World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2019 has always had high expectations to live up to and there would be no better way to silence his critics than by delivering more silverware.
Matthieu Jalibert, Bordeaux Bègles
Jalibert slotted in at fly-half during the Six Nations and in a poetic twist, recently starred in a 44-20 win against Toulouse in the very match which recently saw Ntamack make his return from injury. Jalibert is 27 and Ntamack 26, so the competition for the France starting berth is likely to continue long into the future.
Watch Top 14 rugby on ESPN’s channels in Africa (DStv 218 and 219) and in Disney+ in South Africa.
