He was the first captain of the Galthié era, which started in 2020, before his serious knee injury in June 2021. The 3rd line wing Charles Ollivon will again lead the XV of France on Sunday in Toulouse against Japan. The logical choice was made official this Tuesday by the FFR in a press release, while Antoine Dupont will be absent at the Stadium, after receiving a red card on Saturday during the shock against South Africa (30-26).
The Toulouse scrum-half and best player in the world had taken over in the absence of Ollivon, before seeing his captaincy confirmed at the end of October, at the dawn of the first of three fall test matches against Australia (30-29). He will certainly recover his stripes at the next VI Nations Tournament.
But this decision by the management of the Blues sounds like a reward for Ollivon (29, 27 caps), holder and excellent against the Wallabies then against the Springboks. The Toulonnais had already regained the captaincy during the summer tour in Japan. But these two matches had been disputed by a largely revised selection, in the absence of the main executives (including Dupont) left to rest.