Appointed captain of the XV of France for the first time in his career, Grégory Alldritt will “remain the same”: “it does not change the person I am”, assured the third row on Friday, on the eve of facing Fiji in Nantes, the penultimate preparatory match for the Blues at the 2023 World Cup.
On the eve of honoring your first captaincy as a holder, how do you feel?
“Fabien (Galthié, editor’s note) announced it to me at the beginning of the week: I felt a lot of pride, it is a very great honor to be the captain of the XV of France but it is a label and that does not doesn’t change who I am. I stayed the same this week and I will stay the same tomorrow (Saturday). I’m lucky to have players in the group who will help me, like François (Cros) who is very important in the group and who is coming back, or Uini (Atonio), who will be very good advice for this which is mixed. Antoine (Hastoy), I’m also used to it and there’s also Max (-ime Lucu)… We’re a very good group and I’m confident for tomorrow”.
After Scotland, you and Jonathan Danty are the only ones to follow up against Fiji…
“I think it can’t hurt me, I’m the type of person who needs to play to find my rhythm. It’s a decision that was taken with the staff in good understanding, with communication. We are all in agreement and I am delighted to be on the ground tomorrow”.
With the announcement of Romain Ntamack’s package on Monday, the week was special. Do you now feel apprehensive about the injury?
“Of course it was a very complicated start to the week for all of us: but these are things that can happen and you have to know how to adapt. I think that for four years, it’s been the watchword: adapt to all situations, anywhere, anytime, and that’s what we do. I was named captain for the week but you can imagine that other very important players, such as Gaël (Fickou) and Antoine (Dupont) have also taken over. We reunited and went back to work even more united. Afterwards, there is no real apprehension (vis-à-vis a potential injury, editor’s note). Already, because we have all been playing for several years at a high level and we have all gone through injuries, we are warned that it is part of our daily life. When we train, when we play, we do that 100%, and the worst thing would be to ask ourselves these kinds of questions, so we try to avoid thinking about that and talking about it.
