List of France national rugby union team records explained

France's national rugby union team is the nation's representative side. The team has played Test match rugby since 1906, when they played New Zealand national rugby union team in Paris. The record for most Test match appearances, or caps, is held by Fabien Pelous with 118. Serge Blanco played for France between 1980 and 1991, and has scored 38 Test tries for France – more than any other player. The record for most Test points is held by Frédéric Michalak, who has scored 422 points for France in his 74 Test matches to date.

Caps

The following is a list of the ten French team players with the highest number of Test appearances. Updated France vs England, 16 March 2024.^[1]

	Name	Career years	Caps	Tries	Points
1		1995–2007	118	8	40
2		1982–1995	111	30	125
3		1996–2007	98	8	40
4		1980–1991	93	38	233
5		2013–present	90	17	85
6		1997–2007	89	14	70
7		2001–2011	86	14	128
8		2003–2015	85	1	5
9		1998–2011	84	3	15
10		2004–2015	83	7	35

Career tries

The following is a list of the ten French team players with the most Test tries. Updated France vs England, 16 March 2024.^[2]

	Name	Career years	Tries	Caps	Avg per game
1		1980–1991	38	93
2	Damian Penaud	2017–present	36	53
3		2002–2013	34	67
4		1990–1997	32	69
5		1982–1995	30	111
6		1992–2001	26	41
		1994–2000	26	46
8		1998–2007	25	67
9		1957–1967	23	40
		2001–2012	23	76

Career points

The following is a list of the ten French team players with the most Test points. Updated France vs England, 16 March 2024.

	Player	Career Span	Points	Caps	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Ave.
1		2001–2015	436	77	10	61	79	9
2		1996–2001	380	37	2	59	78	6
3		2002–2012	373	61	2	51	85	2
4		2008–2019	370	71	3	47	86	1
5		1989–1997	367	43	6	32	89	2
6		1982–1993	354	36	12	48	59	11
7		2019–present	337	36	5	66	59	1
8		1999–2003	267	32	3	36	57	3
9		1972–1977	265	34	4	27	56	9
10		1995–2007	252	54	18	42	21	5

Points in a match

	Player	Position	Points	Tries	Con.	Pen.	DG	Result	Opposition	Date
1			30	3	9	0	0	70–12		02/06/1987
2			28	1	4	3	2	43–31		31/10/1999
			28	1	4	4	1	51–9		25/10/2003
4			27	0	9	2	1	60–13		26/03/1967
			27	0	3	5	2	42–33		18/11/2000
			27	1	2	6	0	32–23		16/06/2001
			27	1	11	0	0	87–10		16/09/2007
8			26	0	1	8	0	36–12		10/06/1995
			26	0	4	6	0	61–18		11/10/2003
10			25	1	3	5	0	33–14		12/06/1976
			25	1	6	3	0	49–3		11/11/1987
			25	2	3	3	0	38–10		26/05/1995

Last updated: France vs England, 16 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only. ^[3]

Tries in a match

Tries	Player	Position	Result	Opposition	Date
4			61–3		04/05/1924
			43–5		17/10/1937

Last updated: France vs England, 16 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only. ^[4]

Matches as captain

	Player	Span	Caps	Total caps	Win % as captain
1		2009–2015	56	79	48.21%
2		1997–2006	42	118	64.28%
3		1998–2007	41	98	63.41%
4		1978–1984	34	59	58.82%
		1994–1997	34	69	73.52%
6		2016–2019	33	74	39.06%
7		1986–1988	25	33	74.00%
		1999–2003	25	64	66.00%
9		1948–1952	24	33	52.08%
10		1961–1966	22	63	79.54%

Last updated: Wales vs France, 10 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only. ^[5]

Youngest players

	Player	Age	DOB	Debut	Opposition
1		18 years 7 days	20/11/1948	27/11/1966
2		18 years 84 days	09/10/1895	01/01/1914
3		18 years 99 days	04/10/1929	11/01/1948
4		18 years 129 days	29/08/1888	05/01/1907
5		18 years 141 days	13/08/1912	01/01/1931
6	Christopher Tolofua	18 years 168 days	31/12/1993	16/06/2012
7		18 years 190 days	18/07/1912	24/01/1931
8		18 years 279 days	14/06/1890	20/03/1909
9		18 years 335 days	28/09/1935	29/08/1954
10	Gael Fickou	18 years 355 days	26/03/1994	16/03/2013

Last updated: France vs England, 16 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only. ^[6]

Oldest players

	Player	Age	DOB	Last Match	Opposition
1		37 years 329 days	17/02/1925	12/01/1963
2		37 years 249 days	01/10/1949	07/06/1987
3		36 years 233 days	15/06/1953	03/02/1990
4		36 years 138 days	30/01/1959	17/06/1995
5		35 years 201 days	01/04/1956	19/10/1991
6		35 years 179 days	14/09/1976	11/03/2012
7		35 years 156 days	01/04/1914	04/09/1949
8		35 years 152 days	20/05/1972	19/10/2007
9		35 years 147 days	23/05/1980	17/10/2015
10		35 years 143 days	17/01/1972	09/06/2007

Last updated: France vs England, 16 March 2024. Statistics include officially capped matches only. ^[7]

Notes and References

1. Web site: France / Most matches . . 3 October 2019.
2. Web site: France / Most individual tries . 3 October 2019 . ESPN (UK) .
3. Web site: Rugby Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN.
4. Web site: Rugby Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN.
5. Web site: Rugby Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN.
6. Web site: Rugby Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN.
7. Web site: Rugby Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN.