As during this summer’s tour of New Zealand, Gaël Fickou should wear the captain’s armband next Saturday at the Stade de France against South Africa.
Three days for Fabien Galthié to lift the veil on the composition of the team that he will field at kick-off against South Africa, next Saturday (9:05 p.m.) on the pitch of the Stade de France for the first meeting of the XV of France during this autumn tour, we are already starting to see a little more clearly. And particularly with regard to the captain’s armband.
Thus, according to our colleagues at The Teamthe coach of the Blues would have decided in the absence of the usual captain Antoine Dupont to maintain his confidence in Gaël Fickou (31 years old). The center of Racing 92 who will soon reach the milestone of one hundred selections under the blue jersey (Editor’s note: he has 96 before starting these autumn tests) had already been appointed captain by Galthié this summer during the summer tour of the XV of France in New Zealand.
The former Toulousain, who played two of the three matches against the All Blacks last July (Editor’s note: The first, lost 29-19 by the Blues, as well as the third and last, also won by the New Zealanders, with a score of 31-27) visibly gave satisfaction to his coach in this new role since it should therefore be him again who will be responsible for the captaincy, Saturday for this clash against the reigning double world champions and his former teammate in Hauts-de-Seine Siya Kolisi.
More bad news for Alldritt?
Fickou would have been preferred to Anthony Jelonch (29 years old, 32 caps), who had already worn the armband twice, against Uruguay during the 2023 World Cup in France, and during the tour to Australia in the summer of 2021. Jelonch should nevertheless console himself by learning of his tenure against the Springboks. Always according to The Teamthe Toulouse player should be associated in the third row on Saturday at kick-off with Paul Boudehent and Mickaël Guillard.
In the best case scenario, Grégory Alldritt, who had a very bad experience of not being one of the protected players and of being left at the disposal of his club last weekend, should therefore only be able to aspire to a place on the substitutes’ bench. And again, in the best case scenario only for the Rochelais, not safe from being released again to defend the colors of the Maritimes, Saturday in a late match against Toulon.
