'Proud' Marconnet happy to lead
Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:21
While most sides have largely got rid of their old timers since the last World Cup veteran French prop Sylvain Marconnet has stubbornly refused to admit his time is up and on Saturday he will lead out his compatriots against Samoa.
It will be the 33-year-old's 78th cap - extending his national record in the position - but more importantly for the Stade Francais stalwart is that it wil be the first time the captaincy has been entrusted to him.
He is experienced and realistic enough to accept that it is purely because newly-appointed skipper Thierry Dusautoir is being rested by coach Marc Lievremont after their stirring 20-13 test victory over world champions South Africa in Toulouse last Friday.
"It is a great honour to be promoted to captain of France, even if it is only in a caretaker capacity," purred Marconnet, who played alongside Lievremont at Stade Francais.
"It is a very proud moment for me. It is now 11 years that I have been part of the France set-up.
"I am not made to be a captain, it is not in my genes but in a caretaker capacity I accept it gladly."
Lievremont, who achieved one of his best results since he began his inconsistent tenure as coach after the 2007 World Cup with the South African victory, had no doubts that Marconnet, who has been at Stade since 1997 after leaving Grenoble, ticked every box when it came to being captain.
"It is a logical decision given his achievements, his experience and his behaviour," said Lievremont, whose side finish off their autumn tests with the daunting clash with the All Blacks on Saturday week in Marseille.
Captaincy has not always sat well with the humorous man from the Rhone Valley, as he showed when out of loyalty to his old club-mate and international team-mate Christophe Dominici he stepped down from the Stade captaincy when the former France back was relieved of his duties as assistant coach at the club earlier this season.
"It was my way of showing my displeasure," explained Marconnet, who like Dominici was part of the France team that lost to eventual champions England in the 2003 World Cup semi-finals.
"However, my devotion and motivation as a player for Stade remains intact."
Marconnet insists that the reason he has lasted so long is that he doesn't treat the sport as a job more as a bit of fun, though, he took that rather too literally in 2007 when astonishingly he went off on a skiing holiday in the middle of the Six Nations.
He paid for it by breaking his leg which ultimately cost him his place in the World Cup squad that year as he failed to get back to the proper level of fitness.
"For me, rugby remains a passion before being regarded as a job.
"I first became a professional in 1995. I was never brought up to think of it simply as a job, my approach to this sport is to be playful and very jovial.
"Sometimes that can shock people but this is my way of coping with the sport."
Marconnet, who intends to fight all the way to be on the plane to New Zealand for the 2011 World Cup, said he expected a good battle with the Samoans, who pushed Wales hard last weekend.
"They are a rugged team in the style of the South Africans but they are also a team who revel in passing the ball around," said Marconnet.
"They are totally unpredictable at this level."
Rather like the venerable old Marconnet.
AFP