International Career
Pelous made his test début on 17 October 1995 against Romania.
He proved himself an inspirational captain for France after succeeding Fabien Galthié ahead of the 2004 RBS 6 Nations and enjoyed immediate success, leading Les Bleus to the Grand Slam in his first year and followed that up with a second-placed finish in 2005.
Pelous missed the summer test matches in 2005 with a serious knee injury. He returned to action in September and helped France to a 26-16 win over Australia in November. However, he was handed a nine-week ban in the aftermath of that victory after being found guilty of elbowing Australia hooker Brendan Cannon.
He was due to equal Philippe Sella's record of 111 caps for France in the opener of the 2007 Six Nations against Italy, but was ruled out of the side due to an ankle injury. After he missed their second Six Nations tie against Ireland, he was ruled out of the entire Six Nations. After his injury troubles continued, hooker Raphaël Ibañez, who had filled in for him as captain during the 2007 Six Nations, was named as France captain for the 2007 Rugby World Cup, with Pelous as unofficial vice-captain. He finally earned his record-equalling 111th cap on 11 August 2007 at Twickenham against England, and took the record by himself a week later in Les Bleus' return match against England at Marseille.
He ended his international career after the 2007 Rugby World Cup with 118 caps, 42 of them as France captain.
Read more about this topic: Fabien Pelous
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“Whether lawyer, politician or executive, the American who knows what’s good for his career seeks an institutional rather than an individual identity. He becomes the man from NBC or IBM. The institutional imprint furnishes him with pension, meaning, proofs of existence. A man without a company name is a man without a country.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)