Hooker Raphael Ibanez will captain France during the World Cup later this year, team manager Jo Maso announced on Monday.
He will take over from lock Fabien Pelous.
The 34-year-old Ibanez, who currently plays with London side Wasps, was captain of the French team at the 1999 World Cup, taking the team to the final where they lost to Australia.
Pelous took over as skipper after that but the Toulouse stalwart has been sidelined with injuries for most of the season and there had been doubts about his fitness for the World Cup hosted by France from September 7 until October 20.
”We just were not sure until the last moment that Fabien would be fit enough and we did not want to put more pressure on him,” said Maso.
”The fact that the two of them are the best of friends made it a lot easier to make the change.”
Ibanez has played 90 times for France, 35 of them as captain. — AFP
