Lucien Mias, below, who died this week aged 93, was never a giant of a man physically but when the force was with him, the Mazamet lock played with the strength of two men as South Africa discovered when France toured there in 1958.

The recently qualified doctor relished the luxury of quitting his textbooks and hospital duties and training every day under the hot South African sun on a 10 match tour and quickly became extremely fit. He was then promoted to captain after an injury to Michel Celaya against Rhodesia and the unexpected responsibility and honour of captaincy seemed to inspire hi...