Leone Nakarawa

Fijian lock Leone Nakarawa is among the most distinctive forwards of the professional era. Born on 2 April 1988, he built a global reputation at Glasgow Warriors before a headline-grabbing spell at Racing 92, where his ability to offload in traffic, attack lineout ball and carry with genuine back-row dynamism stretched the tactical expectations of the second row. That period in the Top 14 earned him the 2018 European Player of the Year accolade as Racing pushed deep into Champions Cup knockout rugby. Internationally, Nakarawa has been a cornerstone of Fijian rugby for more than a decade, collecting multiple Rugby World Cup appearances alongside an Olympic gold medal with the national sevens side in 2016. His move to Castres Olympique added another chapter to a peripatetic European career, providing the French club with a senior aerial presence and a continuing source of broken-field offloading that few forwards in world rugby can match. Even in the latter phase of his playing career he remains a reference point for any conversation about skilful, ball-playing locks, his unique blend of height, timing and hands still capable of turning tight phases into attacking opportunities.