France are set to be without skipper Charles Ollivon for the Guinness Six Nations after Fabien Galthié revealed that he would not be rushing the back-rower back for the Championship.
Ollivon suffered a torn ACL in club action at the end of last season, and missed France’s unbeaten run in the Autumn Nations Series including the win over New Zealand.
He was always going to face a race against time to be fit for the Championship but with a return to action now likely in early February, Galthié does not expect Ollivon to feature for Les Bleus.
The France coach said: “Charles is in our list of 75 players (that are being followed), but he is on the comeback trail. He hopes to be back at the start of February. We will follow him closely and we keep in touch. There is no reason why he won’t be back in the squad in the medium term.
“In all honesty, in the short-term, I think the Six Nations will be too early for him. Let’s focus perhaps on the second half of the season. That gives him the time to avoid rushing things. You know his journey, Charles spent a long time recovering from a shoulder and shoulder blade issue that almost forced him to stop. I don’t think that a ligament injury will stop him. He is a tenacious, exemplary guy for many of us. He is strengthening mentally.”
With Ollivon absent, Antoine Dupont is expected to continue in the captaincy, after leading France to three wins from three in November.
And two years on from Galthié and his staff taking charge of Les Bleus, the French coach believes there has been a change of mentality around the side.
He added: “When I started two years ago, people would tap me on the shoulder and say ‘Good luck’. Now we hear ‘You have to win’. There is an evolution in terms of what is being said and the expectations and that is very positive. We want and can win the competitions we are engaged in, particularly the Six Nations.
“The challenge when we started was to be competitive quickly with a squad that lacked international experience. After 20 matches, we have won 70 percent, with six defeats of which five came in the final minutes. We want to keep this dynamic and continuity in the project.
“We talk about versions, we are preparing for version six for the upcoming Six Nations and we want to progress. We have progressed at every level, especially in the preparation for a Test match, in psychology, but there is still a margin for growth.”
