When the time came for Tom Staniforth and his peers to learn a second language at school, the teachers had some advice for big Tom. Just keep working on your first one.
“Mate, you’ll laugh at this,” Staniforth says. “When all my mates went and started French and Japanese and German, they actually sent me back to do English again.
“I was so bad at English I had to go back and just do more of that. It was called ‘communication skills’. They said to us, me and my mum, at the time, ‘oh, you’ll never need French, you’re better off working on your English’.”
Canberra Grammar is a well-known rugby nursery, but they can probably have a pass for misreading the tea leaves when it came to Staniforth. A future in rugby beckoned for their giant teenage student; that much was clear.
But they couldn’t have known Staniforth would not only end up playing in France, but 16 or 17 years later, be on the cusp of playing rugby for France – and speaking fluent French every day.
“I would never say fluent-fluent … but everything day-to-day I can do. I’m pretty good now,” Staniforth says. “In the French team, no one is getting about speaking English.”
Tom Staniforth has flourished in French rugby.Credit: Sportsfile via Getty Images
Staniforth, 31, was a surprise inclusion in the French squad for the Six Nations in January after a career that began in Australia and saw the second-rower play 63 Super Rugby games over six years for the Brumbies and the Waratahs. But after a move to play for Castres Olympique in 2020, Staniforth became such a powerhouse performer that when he became eligible for France – via a five-year residency – the tricolours came calling.
Sporting a wild mullet that gives away his Aussie roots, Staniforth has since been training among a rock star French squad that includes names like Antoine Dupont, Matthieu Jalibert and Louis Bielle-Biarrey. The 31-year-old hasn’t won a first cap yet, but there is a strong possibility of a Test debut on July 11 against the Wallabies in Sydney.
“For us, it’s just a bit of a pinch-me moment. It’s just like, wow, what an experience, what a story. To be honest, the kid from Canberra didn’t think this was possible,” Staniforth says.
“Me and my wife have talked about it, and I guess this is the gift of rugby. To move to France and play in France, to build a life here. It’s not lost on me how lucky we are.”
Tom Staniforth poses for a photo after moving to the Waratahs in 2018.Credit: Peter Braig
Staniforth played for Australian underage sides and debuted for the Brumbies in 2014, as a considerably leaner young man. He became a popular figure at the club, and then the Tahs as well after a move in 2018, and was known as a hardworking figure in the engine room.
He never pinged on the Wallabies’ radar, though, and when an opportunity to play in France in mid-2020, Staniforth’s gut told him it was the right move. He’d extended his contract with NSW earlier in the year but activated an exit clause amid the chaos of COVID.
“I really enjoyed my time in Aussie,” Staniforth says. “But I was like 26, just married, and thought a chance to go over to Europe and live and play, that was too good to pass up. I’d been in Super Rugby for eight years and thought I had tried there, and it wasn’t going to pan out.”
The Wallabies wasn’t going to pan out?
“Nah, it was just more I got the feeling that Super Rugby wasn’t for me. It’s a faster game. And obviously having watched a bit of Europe on YouTube and stuff, I just thought that playing Europe would suit me better,” he said.
Hand, meet glove. After years of trying to play at 115 kilograms or less, Staniforth was encouraged to bulk up to 125kg at Castres, and now with a “happy mix” of a Super Rugby-forged engine, size and a valued skill set, he quickly became a leading second-rower in the Top 14 competition.
“The way they play the game, more forward-orientated, more contact, you can be bigger. For me personally, it’s just a better type of rugby,” he said. “And French rugby is absolutely phenomenal. Castres, we have 40,000 in our town, so it’s like Goulburn, and our stadium holds 12,500. It’s full every week. When we come to the stadium, there’s flares, there’s people lining the streets. It’s mad.”
French rugby loves a big forward – and it became besotted with Staniforth. Over the last five years, he has become known as one of the hardest-working players in not only France, but also Europe.
In the 2021-22 season, stats showed he had the most carries (both one-out and pick-and-drive) in all the world’s big four leagues (Top 14, Premiership, URC, and Super Rugby), and he was also the Top 14’s best tackler, too. With future Wallaby (and another Canberra kid) Nick Champion de Crespigny also in the team, Castres made the Top 14 final. In the 2023-24 season, stats again showed Staniforth was No.1 in the competition for carries, metres after contact and successful tackles.
Though the closest French term is perhaps “un besogneux” – a grafter – Staniforth is an out-and-out workhorse, and the big-hearted Aussie was instantly loved by the supporters of Castres, an industrial town in the south of France.
And Staniforth loves Castres right back. With wife Marney, the pair have had two kids since moving to France (Parker, 4, and Boston, 2) and Staniforth says they may stay on after rugby.
But “workhorse” still fits best for Staniforth, who even resembles a Clydesdale with his giant frame and a flopping blond mane that has grown wilder over the years.
“They call it a ‘mulet’,” Staniforth says about his hairstyle. “The boys think it’s disgusting. But I love it.”
A broken ankle and foot tendon complications saw Staniforth sit out most of the 2024-25 season; it was so bad Staniforth feared his career could be over.
But he eventually got back on the park and returned to form. And as his 60-month residency period ticked over last year, Galthie and the French federation made their move: would you play for France if selected?
Tom Staniforth training with the French squad.Credit: Instagram
“Obviously, I said yeah, 100 per cent,” Staniforth said. “But I didn’t really think that it would happen, with the level of players they have already there.”
Staniforth’s name was read out in France’s 42-man squad in January, and he has since been in camp with Les Bleus. There have been no jibes about his background – no doubt policed by the other Aussie in the squad, Sydney-raised Manny Meafou.
“They’re awesome, mate, they’re really welcoming as people, and they accept you for sure. It’s been really cool to go up to Paris and train and see how they do their business,” he said.
“Obviously, the quality of the players they have, training is a really high quality. You’ve still got to be on your A-game because if you’re not, you get found out.”
France are unbeaten in the Six Nations after three rounds, with games against Scotland and England to come. Staniforth’s debut in one of those would likely only come via an injury, but July is a much stronger chance, given the French routinely rest players in that Test window.
So how would a debut against the Wallabies in Sydney feel? Potentially alongside Meafou?
“It would be super cool, obviously,” Staniforth says. “But also, that’s three or four months away. And in rugby, I’ve learned over my experience, you just can’t look that far ahead.
“So much can happen. Life can be unpredictable.”
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