Olympic gold medallist Grandidier-Nkanang scores twice on emotional France debut in Brisbane

Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang marked his France debut with a brace of tries as Les Bleus defeated Australia at Suncorp Stadium in the inaugural Nations Championship, securing their first win in Brisbane since the early 1970s. The 26-year-old winger, France representative number 1235, was visibly emotional when presented with his debut cap after the final whistle.

Grandidier-Nkanang opened his Test account after 17 minutes when a Romain Ntamack kick ahead bounced perfectly for the debutant, who grounded the ball just inside the left sideline as Wallabies fly-half Declan Meredith trailed back. His second try arrived during a dominant second-half blitz in which France piled on 30 unanswered points, and proved particularly crucial — reducing the deficit to a single point before the visitors completed their comeback.

“It’s honestly so fresh and it’s quite difficult for me to really even understand what’s going on,” Grandidier-Nkanang said immediately after leaving the changeroom, where celebratory cheers for the debutants had erupted moments earlier. “I feel very, very lucky, very grateful and it’s just unreal.”

The milestone is the latest in a career that has already taken in remarkable heights across rugby’s two formats. Born in England to a French mother, Grandidier-Nkanang studied in Twickenham before crossing the Channel to sign with Brive in 2019, making seven appearances over two seasons before transitioning to the France Sevens programme.

He became one of the standout performers on the HSBC SVNS Series circuit — memorably scoring 11 tries across a single event at the Hong Kong Sevens — and was part of the France squad that claimed Olympic gold in Paris, touching down once in the gold medal match victory over Fiji. He was nominated for the 2024 World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year award, an honour that ultimately went to Antoine Dupont.

Grandidier-Nkanang has since joined Top 14 side Pau, where he has featured in 42 matches across two seasons. The transition from Sevens to the fifteen-man game is one that has challenged many decorated players — Rieko Ioane, Sonny Bill Williams, Ardie Savea, Michael Hooper and Bryan Habana among those who have navigated it with varying degrees of success.

“It’s not easy,” Grandidier-Nkanang acknowledged, making his two-try debut performance at Suncorp Stadium all the more striking.