Jonathan Laporte

Jonathan Laporte's biography

Jonathan Laporte Life and Career Highlights.

Jonathan Laporte is a charismatic Dordogne native and the current captain of the Federal 2 Sarlat Rugby Team. Here he has forged a reputation as the “ultimate nice guy” who has the rare ability to boost morale and rally a team together. But he did not just arrive at Sarlat overnight, and his career, now spanning over 20 years, paints a picture of a life-long dedication to rugby.

Beginning at the tender age of just six years old, it was with Rugby Club Mussidan where Johnathan would strap on his first pair of rugby cleats and get a taste for competitive rugby. Here he would spend his formative years, playing with the club from 1992 until 2000, when he made his first move to the junior team of CA Périgueux Dordogne at 14 years of age.

Laporte’s career only continued to build from here on out, with early highlights including integration into the Pôle Espoirs of Union Bordeaux Bègles, the French team at 18 years of age, and then five years at ASM Clermont Auvergne (2004 – 2009). Jonathan would then return to CA Périgueux Dordogne for one year in 2009, before finding another long-term home at Club Athlétique Ribéracois (2010 – 2013).

In the years before arriving at Sarlat, Jonathan spent five years with SA Trélissac Rugby where he played the third line and assumed the captaincy. A highlight during his time here, in 2018, the club was vice-champion of France for the 2018 Federal 1 Jean Prat Trophy against Lavaur. Unfortunately, the club would experience a slow decline following this high, with many of its top stars jumping ship over the years to come, including Jonathan in 2021.

From here he was recruited into the 2021 Sarlat Rugby Team by Stéphane Labrousse, who had also made an earlier move away from SA Trélissac.

While Jonathan might not always be the fastest, nor the most powerful on the field, Labrousse notes that Jonathan’s real strength is his ability to “improve every ball he touches.” It was also Labrousse that labeled him as the “ultimate nice guy,” attesting to his ability to rally a team around him and boost everyone’s morale.

Sarlat Rugby recently finished its first season without a single loss since the club’s founding back in 1903, with a perfect 22 wins for 22 games played. The addition of players like Lucas Caneda, Hemani Paea, Ikapote Fono and Dato Okriashvili (among others) has turned a team that used to used to play the bottom brackets into a contender qualified for the French Federal 2 championship finals and a brand that has secured a global following, with new fans hailing from every corner of the world.

This performance on the field has attracted the attention of big sports brands like Samurai. Based just across the channel in the U.K., Samurai Sportswear is a leading international kit supplier to sporting clubs from Australia and New Zealand to the English Premiership Rugby division. And, in it has been doing so for the last 25 years. And, in 2021, Samurai came onboard as Sarlat Rugby Team’s new kit supplier.

When word that Samurai Sportswear would potentially become the new kit sponsor for the team first spread, there was more than a little enthusiasm from some of the players. The current kit at the time left quite a lot to be desired. And, while not everyone knew who Samurai was at first, many players did.