Two names off the list at RCT
A former France captain has just been told he is no longer a captain at his own club. Charles Ollivon and Baptiste Serin both drop out of Toulon’s leadership group this season, a decision Franck Azema confirmed on Friday in his first pre-season announcement as head coach of Rugby Club Toulonnais.
Gael Fickou and England flanker Lewis Ludlam pick up the vacated duties. David Ribbans keeps his place in the group.
Ollivon led France for several seasons. Serin, the scrum-half, had spent years as one of the loudest and most trusted voices in that dressing room. Removing both at once is not housekeeping.
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Fickou has the caps, Ludlam has the accent
Fickou arrives in the role with one of the fullest international CVs in French rugby, and he already knows the building after his return to the Var.
Ludlam brings something else. The England back-rower learned his captaincy in a league where the job is largely about working the referee, keeping the penalty count down and dictating when a game speeds up or slows to a crawl. Different skill, same armband.
They will not get long to settle. The Top 14 restarts this weekend.
A gamble taken before a ball is kicked
Azema has inherited a club that keeps losing its footing over the length of a regular season. Redrawing the leadership map in September, before anyone has played a competitive minute, is a bet on a new voice fixing that.
What happens next depends on two men who were not consulted about their demotion. Serin and Ollivon are still in the squad, still starting, still influential in ways no announcement can strip away.
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