France have featured in four of the past five World Rugby Junior World Championship finals, where the cream of the age-grade game go head to head. Les Bleuets have claimed the title in 2018, 2019 and 2023, with Romain Ntamack, Jean-Baptiste Gros, Louis Carbonel, Arthur Vincent, Théo Attissogbé, Nicolas Depoortère, Oscar Jégou, Lenni Nouchi and Kalvin Gourgues among those to become full international stars. France has been engineering this talent at a furious rate and its development is linked by a common thread: espoirs.

In short, the espoirs is age-grade rugby, a broad equivalent to the academy sides fielded by clubs in the UK and Ireland. The espoirs play in a competition for U21 players from Top 14 and ProD2 sides, with those youngsters linked to the clubs under academy contracts. It has been a crucial part of the system since the professional game arrived in France, supplying young athletes to clubs fighting to earn a senior professional contract.

Established in 2003, the competition has undergone several expansions and changes, serving mostly as a platform for players who needed playing time or were returning from injury. At its outset, teams could field four players over the age of 25, but due to concerns about the safety of the youngest athletes, the French federation and Ligue Nationale de Rugby, which governs the domestic leagues, tightened the criteria in 2020. Teams could still field four 23-year-old players, but it was crystal clear the espoirs was now the realm of the young.

Section Paloise are one of the success stories of the current season. They sit on the coattails of Top 14 giants Toulouse and Bordeaux-Begles, and beat Leicester Tigers in their opening Champions Cup fixture. France shooting stars Attissogbe and Emilien Gailleton are two of their headline backs, while 20-year-old centre Fabien Brau-Boirie made his debut in this year’s Six Nations and dynamic forward Hugo Auradou is a regular in the national squad. All have been part of the Pau system since their late teens.

“For the first year of their contract, when they are 18, they play just a few games in the espoirs and stay in that level for one or two seasons, depending on their development level,” explains Hector Maren, the club’s academy and espoirs coach. “During that time, they train with the professional teams, and between that experience and playing at the weekends for the espoirs, that’s where I believe it gives the upper hand to the French teams.”

Maren reveals four years ago, there was a massive shift in how clubs treated their academy players.

“When I first started, the Top 14 and ProD2 sides were focused on having the best espoir team for the weekend, and then they would proceed to pick the best players to stay with the main side of the club. However, we, at Pau, opted to work under a different system that was established by us, the capsule.

We selected the nine best players in our academy. For those, we assigned an S&C coach, a physio, a video analyst, just for them. We put everything on those players,

“Every club has 30 academy slots, and we took the approach in 2022 that we selected the nine best players inour academy. For those, we assigned a strength and conditioning coach, a physio, a video analyst, just for them. We put everything on those players, and it was a bet that paid off to the point that most clubs have followed our approach.”

In the second-tier ProD2, Stade Aurillacois are a fiercely proud club, once home to Olivier Magne and Ludovic Mercier. These days, they have a keen sense of responsibility in bringing youth through the ranks. Director of rugby Walter Olombel established the club’s academy during the 2010s.

“The academy and the espoirs are the heart of the whole club,” Olombel says. “It makes everything work and pumps life into our senior side, which is why we must continue to value our youth pathway. In Aurillac, we don’t have superstars; we help them become superstars so they can then go play in the Top 14. We understand our role in the French club system.”

The former local player, who has devoted his professional life to Aurillac, explains how the club has managed to survive in one of the most ruthless landscapes in the game.

“We have the smallest budget of the 30 clubs that comprise the Top 14 and ProD2, as we run the entire club with just €6m. Fifteen years ago, we made a reflection, as we needed to find a solution, and we found it by building an academy and youth system that supplied us with talents for our main side.

“We can’t hire four or five players per position as we don’t have the means, so we rely heavily on our espoirs and their development as players and humans. That’s why we work to the most precise detail in every area, be it scouting, developing players’ skills and helping them flourish to become senior professional players.”

The bottom line is France has been successful in fast-tracking young players to its senior sides, whether by choice or necessity, with those new talents showing a high degree of game understanding.

“There are two aspects we have to consider,” Maren says. “First, most clubs push the same philosophy and game plan from the first team to their U10s. The second aspect has to do with coaching, and the major emphasis is on something called the rapport de force, which is the ability to read what is in front of you, tactical awareness, momentum.”

If you look at the French national team, they are struggling to find a world-class loose and tighthead, and that’s because they can’t give sufficient quality of opposition at scrum time for props to develop.

Olombel says another piece of the puzzle is how several head coaches of the main teams are involved to some extent with the espoir and academy levels, which, in the end, boosts the club’s chances of success.

“One of the core values of our system in Aurillac is the head coach of the first team must be familiar with our academy players, especially the espoirs. Before we rush to hire a 26 or 27-year-old player, we have to look first if we have the solution in-house.”

However, it doesn’t mean the espoirs system is a finished product, as both Olombel and Maren can easily identify aspects which need improvement.

“The main area for development is the physicality,” Maren emphasises.

“Even though we have boys who are getting bigger and bigger, more strength and conditioning coaches involved, and we have a better understanding of nutrition, age plays a factor in size and can be a limitation.”

France’s inability to develop young props has been a major talking point, highlighted even by national coach Fabien Galthié. Uini Atonio’s enforced retirement has left a gap at tighthead, and even had the La Rochelle icon continued to the World Cup, he will be 37 in March.

“If you look at the French national team, they are struggling to find a world-class loose and tighthead, and that’s because they can’t give sufficient quality of opposition at scrum time for props to develop,” Maren says. “To address this problem, Top 14 clubs opted to loan young front-rowers to ProD2 sides.”

However, even that logical step hasn’t been enough to tackle the prop poser.

“There are several clubs in France which don’t have the means to hire a scrum specialist coach who can spend time with the academies,” Maren continues. “Sometimes the scrum coach/specialist of the main team will get involved in the academy training sessions, but it isn’t enough. It is the only area that France is a bit behind, compared to South Africa, for example.”

Olombel does not go as far as to say the pre-2020 age limits were more beneficial for the French game, but does believe more reform is needed. Too many of his young crop, he says, will be playing too little rugby under the current rules.

Since we can only pick four who are over 21 to play for the espoirs, the other five will need to sit out, which is not good for them, for us, or for the system.

“Next year we will have nine players born in 2005 who will spend most of the season on the sidelines and not develop. Since we can only pick four who are over 21 to play for the espoirs, the other five will need to sit out, which is not good for them, for us, or for the system. If we adjusted the maximum age level to 23 or 24 it would fix several issues.”

Maren has a similar take. “Maybe if we could allow props and front-rowers to keep playing in the espoirs until they are 23 or 24, it could be a solution.

“I didn’t experience how the espoirs used to work before 2020, but maybe increasing the ages of some players would benefit French rugby in the long run. It would help some players have a career, because if by the age of 20 you haven’t played a single pro game, you are finished at the club. We need to look after the late bloomers.”

Olombel goes further and breaks down how the system could work in the future, a solution he has discussed at LNR meetings.

“For us, the best scenario would be to have eight first-year espoirs players, eight second-year players, 10 third-year players, four to five fourth-year players, and one to two fifth-year players. The current system is unhelpful for the ProD2 clubs.

“In my opinion, the current age limitations mean we have fewer professional players compared to what was before, albeit the old system wasn’t good for most. Right now, in Aurillac, only 25%-30% of our players become professionals, with the large majority having to leave to find a contract or stop playing top-level rugby.”

Both men agree France has the edge over most of its rivals in youth development. The abundance of clubs across two professional divisions is an obvious help in providing opportunities for emerging youngsters.

“When you look at the French national team or at Top 14 and ProD2 sides, you get a fresh batch of young, talented players rising through the ranks,” Maren says.

Olombel adds: “The players who have come from England, Ireland or New Zealand, we see they were well developed at a skill and conditioning level.

“However, I think the espoirs competition is far better than others. And if we could slightly adjust the age limit, it would be even better.”

But more importantly for Olombel, is how most professional clubs have enhanced their academies to become the lifeblood of their senior sides.

“Around 60% of Aurillac’s 45 professional senior squad comes from our academy system. That’s why having a well-oiled academy is vital for a club like ours.”

Ultimately, France’s rugby system continues to flourish and gain momentum. And as the Nations Championship returns to Europe this month, many of those in bleu who will light up the tournament had their first opportunity in the espoirs ranks.