FROM PLAYING rugby for St Olave’s Grammar School to winning gold for France in Paris, Aaron Grandidier Nkanang’s path to the top is certainly unconventional. Although the name may be unfamiliar to the wider rugby audience, the English-born Olympic champion is starting to make waves across the Channel.

“It’s awesome over here,” he tells Rugby World. “In my opinion, the Top 14 is by far the best domestic league in the world and playing week in, week out against the biggest players in the game has definitely helped me improve.”

Currently plying his trade for Pau in the French Pyrenees, Grandidier may go under the radar alongside the likes of Joe Simmonds, Théo Attissogbe and Émilien Gailleton, but the kid from Bromley is definitely dreaming big.

“I’m an ambitious person and some people will say, ‘Who does this guy think he is?’, but I’m looking at the 2027 World Cup thinking that I’d love to be there. After winning gold with the sevens, my long-term goal was always to come to 15s and push for that French cap.”

Even though the 24-year-old, by his own admission, is at present “far off the France squad”, he is well aware that things can change quickly in sport. “The good thing about Fabien Galthié is that he’s not scared to bring in new faces. I feel that if I’m playing well enough, he’ll give me a shot.”