Alldritt keeps France captaincy as Fickou returns against Australia / Photo: © AFP/File
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Alldritt keeps France captaincy as Fickou returns against Australia
Gregory Alldritt retained the France captaincy despite the return of Gael Fickou in the team announced by head coach Fabien Galthie on Thursday to play Australia in the Autumn Nations Series in Paris this weekend.
Centre Fickou, 31, led the side in the opening game of the campaign, a humbling 32-17 defeat to South Africa on November 8, before he was rested for last weekend's unconvincing 34-21 victory over Fiji in Bordeaux.
But with regular skipper Antoine Dupont out until December with a serious knee injury, No.8 Alldritt, who captained the side against Fiji after he was dropped for the Springbok clash, will again lead the team to face the struggling Wallabies on Saturday.
"It's always a choice (the captaincy) that's thought over and debated," Galthie told reporters.
"The coherent thing to do was to keep him in the role, simply put," the 56-year-old added.
Racing 92's Fickou gets the the nod to start on his 98th Test appearance as Pierre-Louis Barassi has been ruled out with concussion, in one of three changes made by former scrum-half Galthie.
Locks Thibaud Flament and Emmanuel Meafou are included with Romain Taofifenua dropped to the bench and Charles Ollivon moving across to flanker as Oscar Jegou is named amongst the replacements.
"The indisputable starters in the number four and five shirts for France at the moment are Thibaud Flament and Emmanueal Meafou," Galthie said.
"We're not going deny ourselves the chance to start them.
"Charles put in a performance in Bordeaux to gain his place in back-row," the former Les Bleus captain added.
Among the replacements, Toulouse's 20-year-old centre Kalvin Gourgues is set for his Test debut after an impressive start to the French Top 14 season.
Team (15-1)
Thomas Ramos; Damian Penaud, Nicolas Depoortere, Gael Fickou, Louis Bielle-Biarrey; Romain Ntamack, Maxime Lucu; Gregory Alldritt (capt), Charles Ollivon, Anthony Jelonch; Emmanuel Meafou, Thibaud Flament; Regis Montagne, Julien Marchand, Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: Maxime Lamothe, Rodrigue Neti, Thomas Laclayat, Romain Taofifenua, Hugo Auradou, Oscar Jegou, Baptiste Jauneau, Kalvin Gourgues
Coach: Fabien Galthie (FRA)
W.Huber--VB