Castaignede - back from injury. (Allsport)

A remarkable player who has represented his country at full-back, centre, wing and fly-half. When Castaignede burst onto the international scene with a late drop goal to sink England on his debut a glittering future was predicted.

However he suffered a ruptured achilles' tendon back in November 2001 just as he was reaching the peak of his powers.

In all it took four operations and the player did not reappear until 18 months later for Saracens against Northampton in April 2002.

Despite his problems the club showed great faith in their gaellic genius and offered him a new four year contract, a decision he was rewarded with a string of oustanding displays in the current Zurich Premiership season.

He is back in the French groove too, returning to the squad for the autumn internationals against Australia and Canada.

Castaignede may have been blighted by incredibly bad luck in his career to date but the fact he is back, firing on all cylinders, is good news for the tournament - let alone French fans.