Fabien Galthié revealed this Wednesday his group of 34 players to prepare for the next Six Nations Tournament, which will begin on Friday February 2 with an explosive France-Ireland match at the Vélodrome stadium in Marseille. If we find six small novices in this list, one of the main questions concerned the name of the captain of the Blues.
In the absence of Antoine Dupont who is skipping this Six Nations to devote himself to preparing for the Paris Olympics with the French 7s team, it is the third-row center of La Rochelle, Grégory Alldritt , who inherited the armband. The number 8 of the Maritimes was preferred to Charles Ollivon, while the latter had been the first captain of the Blues when Fabien Galthié was appointed after the Japanese World Cup in 2019. After Dupont’s jaw injury during the last World Cup, the Toulon flanker was named captain during the great success against Italy (60-7).
But the French coach has changed his mind and the choice of Alldritt has two advantages: he is completely bilingual (his father is Scottish), which facilitates communication with Anglo-Saxon referees and, moreover, he is younger than Ollivon (26 years old compared to 31), which is a plus for the future, in view of the next World Cup in 2027 in Australia. Especially since Fabien Galthié mentioned the idea of leaving certain internationals (probably those in their thirties) to rest for an international season before the Australian World Cup, so that they can regenerate physically and mentally. What Alldritt already did after the last World Cup.
Last summer, during the preparation match won against Fiji in Nantes (34-17), the number 8 and captain of the Maritimes had already inherited the captain’s armband. “I feel a lot of pride,” he confided. It’s an honor to be captain of the XV of France. It’s a label that doesn’t change who I am. I stayed the same all week and I will stay the same again tomorrow.”
At the beginning of January, he was questioned by our colleagues at RMC Sport about the possibility of taking the armband of the XV of France. He explained: “I don’t worry about it. I am focused on getting back to my best level. Of course, it’s wonderful to be captain of the France team but it’s optional. We have a great group of leaders. Whoever was in this group would hold up.”
