Clément Laporte (born January 7, 1998) is a French

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player who plays as a full back or

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

for

Section Paloise Section Paloise (, Bearnese: ), commonly referred to as ''Section'' or as ''Pau'' , is a professional rugby union club based in Pau, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the EPCR Challenge Cup. Their home g ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

competition. He made his

debut with his club on September 30, 2017.

Playing career

Clément Laporte began playing rugby in 2006 with Parentis Sport Rugby. In 2013, he joined the youth academy of

Union Bordeaux Bègles Union Bordeaux Bègles (; oc, Union Bordèu Begla) is a French rugby union team playing in the Top 14, the first level of the country's professional league system. They earned their Top 14 place by winning the promotion playoffs that followed ...

before transferring to the

SU Agen Sporting Union Agen Lot-et-Garonne (), commonly referred to as SU Agen, Agen () or SUALG, is a French professional rugby union club based in Agen, Lot-et-Garonne that competes in the Pro D2, France's second division of rugby. Founded in 1908, A ...

youth academy in 2015.

Club career

SU Agen (2017-2019)

Clément Laporte debuted for

's first team in the Top 14 on September 30, 2017, against

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () ( oc, Estadi Tolosenc), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulou ...

. During his first professional season, he played 16

matches and scored 2 tries, along with two

EPCR Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception ...

matches. Clément Laporte made his debut for the

first team during the 6th round of the Top 14 on September 30, 2017, against as a starter. He scored his first try in the Top 14 on November 18, 2017, against Union Bordeaux Bègles. In his first professional season, he played 16 Top 14 matches and scored 2 tries, along with two

matches. In July 2018, he signed an espoir (young talent) contract with

until 2020. During the 2018–2019 season, he played 25 Top 14 matches and scored two tries. He also played three

matches. In November 2018, he was selected for the

French Barbarians The Barbarian Rugby Club, more commonly known as the French Barbarians, is a rugby union team formed in 1979 and based in France. It was founded as an amateur invitational team modeled on the Barbarian F.C. From the start of the 2017–18 season, ...

to face

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Stade Chaban-Delmas Stade Chaban-Delmas is a sporting stadium located in the city of Bordeaux, France. It was the home ground of FC Girondins de Bordeaux. Since 2011, it has also hosted matches of Top 14 rugby team Union Bordeaux Bègles. Until 2001, the stadium' ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. Starting as a wing, he scored a try during the match. The Baa-Baas lost 38–49 against Tonga. In January 2019, Lyon OU announced that Clément Laporte would join the club starting from the 2019–2020 season.

Lyon OU (2019-2022)

During the 2019–2020 season, he only played one match in September 2019 against

RC Toulon R&C, RC, R/C, Rc, or rc may refer to: Science and technology Computing * rc, the default Command line interface in Version 10 Unix and Plan 9 from Bell Labs * .rc (for "run commands"), a filename extension for configuration files in UNIX-like e ...

. In November 2021, he was once again called up to the

to face

Matmut Stadium Matmut Stadium is a rugby union stadium located in Vénissieux, Lyon, France with a capacity of 11,805, with slightly over 10,000 of those seated. It was the home stadium of Lyon OU and replaced Stade Vuillermet. It opened on 19 November 2011, wi ...

in Lyon. The Baa-Baas won 42–17 with six tries scored. During the following two seasons, he played only twenty Top 14 matches and six European Cup matches.

Section Paloise (since 2022)

During the 2022 offseason, he signed with

until 2025. He played his first match with Pau in the opening round of the Top 14 against

USA Perpignan Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignanais, also referred to as USA Perpignan or Perpignan, is a French professional rugby union club founded in 1933 and based in Perpignan, in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. They compete in the Top 14, Franc ...

as a starter. In December 2022, during the match against

CA Brive Club Athlétique Brive Corrèze Limousin, also referred to as CA Brive, Brive () or CAB, is a French professional rugby union club based in Brive-la-Gaillarde, in the Corrèze department. They compete in the first-tier Top 14 competition. Briv ...

, he suffered a medial collateral ligament sprain in his knee and was sidelined for six weeks. He returned to competition at the end of January 2023 for the last Challenge Cup match against the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

. During the 2022–2023 season, Laporte played 20 Top 14 matches and scored 6 tries, primarily as a winger. During the 2023–2024 season, he scored his first try of the season in the 3rd round against Lyon OU. Laporte established himself as a winger but also became a credible alternative for the full-back position. However, during the 7th round of the 2023-2024 Top 14 season,

faced

Aviron Bayonnais Aviron Bayonnais ( eu, Baionako Arrauna), commonly called Bayonne, is a French rugby union club from Bayonne (''Baiona'', in Basque) in Pyrénées-Atlantiques which, for the 2016-17 season, competed in the top tier of the French league system, ...

as co-leaders of the league. Clément Laporte ruptured his Achilles tendon just 4 minutes into the game. He underwent surgery, and his season came to an end.

International career

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, he won the World Rugby U20 Championship with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. In December 2020, he was called up by Fabien Galthié to the French national team to prepare for the

Autumn Nations Cup The Autumn Nations Cup was a rugby union competition held in November and December 2020 in place of the usual Autumn internationals series typically held in the same period each year, as many teams were avoiding extended travel due to the COVID- ...

final against England.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Laporte, Clément 1998 births Living people Rugby union players from Gironde French rugby union players Section Paloise players People from Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques