It is little to say that Gaël Fickou is an indestructible figure of the Galthié era. Prominent captain of La Défense since the coach took office, the 3/4 center of 30 years old is also the player most used by the former scrum half, since his arrival at the head of the Blues 5 years ago.
In figures, this gives 40 selections and 40 starts for him in the 51 matches played by the XV of France since then. Strong.
But this Saturday, against Japan, the 90-cap center is announced on the bench. A choice made by the Blues staff between the current forms, the possible associations and the temptation to rest some executives who have been very used since the start of the season, like Fickou (8 matches, 8 starts, 615 minutes).
TOP 14. Gaël Fickou (normally) knows the date of the end of his career, and wants to finish strong!Which therefore does not mean that La Fick has necessarily fallen back in the hierarchy, as read here and there. Moreover, barring any cataclysm, he will be back in the starting XV against the All Blacks on Saturday November 16.
But this remains indeed a small event under the Galthié mandate. Besides, how long has it been since Fickou had been on the bench for the French team? To find traces of such an archive, we have to go back to the beginning of 2019, when he was not yet installed under the leadership of Jacques Brunel, who until then preferred the Chavancy/Lamerat then Doumayrou/Bastareaud associations ( yes, this era existed).
''Romain Ntamack could be the first number 10 in France to aim for 100 caps'', says Fabien Pelous
Little used in 2018, the Seynois native therefore started as a substitute against Wales, for the opening of the 2019 Tournament. A match for which the interim coach at the time had fun starting Romain Ntamack in number 13 for the one and only time in his career (a great gift for his first selection), but had also chosen to place a certain Antoine Dupont outside the group.
A time which once again seems to have passed, since beyond the status of the players mentioned, today we no longer speak of a replacement, but of a finisher…
