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Their faces stare out moodily from the fashion pages, they sell banking services, ham and dandruff shampoo and a couple of them are even lampooned on the country's favourite TV satire show: how times have changed for France's top rugby players.
Twenty years ago, when the first World Cup kicked off to a sparse crowd at Eden Park, rugby had only a narrow, tribal following in France, focussed especially in the south and southwest of the country.
At that time, just one face - that of fullback Serge Blanco - could lay claim to wider recognition, but even so France's greatest No. 15 could easily walk down a Paris boulevard without fear of being waylaid.
Today, the injection of big money after rugby turned professional in 1995, a surge of public enthusiasm for rugby over the past few years and a media blitz spurred by this month's World Cup have combined to turn some of the national squad into stars.
"Les rugbymen" are still far short of their counterparts in football [soccer] for national adulation and earning power but are making good headway. Perhaps half a dozen of them are now so recognisable that they are harnessed by ad agencies for mainstream products that have nothing to do with the oval ball.
In TV spots, posters and newspaper ads, Christophe Dominici flogs Head and Shoulders shampoo, Raphael Ibanez promotes underwear and Fabien Pelous gives a push to soap powder. Coach Bernard Laporte has had a useful line in razors, pre-sliced ham, mobile phones and even pet food.
Some of the better-looking players have posed naked, their private parts artfully covered by a rugby ball, for a top-selling calendar, "Les Dieux de la Stade" (Gods of the Stadium). They are also profiled by women's magazines ("My ideal woman is someone who will understand me and make me dream," flanker Yannick Nyanga soulfully confessed to Madame Figaro last Saturday) and there is a whole host of websites and chatrooms devoted to favourites. First five Frederic Michalak has a fierce following among gays.
With the impending World Cup, bookshops are giving special place to rugby autobiographies, including Dominici's re-issued Bleu a l'Ame (Blue in the Soul) in which he speaks of the depression that has dogged his career.
The best-known rugby character is Laporte, who swiftly became a dependable soundbite on TV after taking the helm of the national squad in late 1999. He is highly popular for his unvarnished criticism of players who flag, just as he stout-heartedly defends players who deliver the goods (he once called a group of fans "bourgeois turds" for barracking Michalak at a France-Ireland match at the Stade de France in 2006).
Les Guignols de l'Info, France's favourite TV satire programme, swiftly picked up on Laporte's quirky image. Its Laporte puppet is a yokel in a tie, delivering fruity images in rather manic machine-gun fashion and a toe-curling southern accent.
Laporte has been joined in the Guignols' pantheon by Sebastien Chabal, a Neanderthal-like puppet who sometimes appears dressed up as a cannibalistic Hannibal Lecter. "Chabal's a godsend for us," says Les Guignols' Julien Herve. "With his long hair and beard, he's got a caveman look about him."
Chabal's sudden rise can be attributed to his successful tour of New Zealand this year. His massive tackles on Chris Masoe and Ali Williams got him huge coverage and his appearance did the rest, says Philippe Liotard, a sociologist at the faculty of sports at the University of Lyon (despite Chabal's aggressive image, his friends and team mates insist he is really the gentlest of characters).
"He's a classic example of how the media build up a character," says Liotard. "For ages, all anyone ever did was to pick on his faults and all of a sudden, people start seeing him as a personality ... a bit super-human. And as he doesn't say very much, that's great for building up the rustic image."
World Cup Diary
Departure day
It wasn't just get on the plane and leave for the All Blacks on Wednesday - the day was fully booked. At a ceremony principal sponsor adidas and the Rugby Union gave each player a capsule of soil taken from grounds played on by every AB in history.
The All Blacks will arrive in Europe less than a month after a foot-and-mouth scare, resulting in heightened biosecurity regulations but MAF Biosecurity, Diagnostic Medlab and the French authorities have assured them they will meet regulations.
An hour-long autograph session at Westfield Manukau attracted thousands of fans then the team were whisked to the airport in their bus to do promotional work with their other sponsor, Air New Zealand.
Fans
The dedicated turned up 90 minutes early at Westfield and the airport just to glimpse their favourites. After autographs finished, nice-guy Jerry Collins sneakily signed about a dozen more posters and gave them to kids who'd missed out.
And there had to be haka. Hastings Boys High School had their turn at the mall and about 30 baggage handlers and loaders used the airport tarmac to wish the team well. Byron Kelleher's grin from the plane could be seen miles away.
Wags
The only WAG (wives and girlfriends) in sight farewelling her loved one at the airport was Sitiveni Sivivatu's wife, Suliana Mone. Did the other men say their farewells in secret to avoid the media scrums they knew would greet them?
Several WAGs are due to tour with the group. Others will travel later.
Among the dozen travelling with the main group are former Fair Go reporter Natalie Crook (Carl Hayman's fiancee), Emma Bainbridge (the model partner of new All Black Andrew Ellis), and Monique Everand (Doug Howlett's wife).
