Former France scrum half Fabien Galthie will replace Jacques Brunel as the country’s head coach after this year’s Rugby World Cup, French Rugby Federation chief Bernard Laporte has said.
“I’ve named Fabien Galthie as coach,” Laporte told French newspaper Berry Republicain.
Galthie played 64 times for France and captained the side to a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2002 and also led them at the 2003 World Cup.
Brunel’s contract expires at the end of the World Cup and amateur clubs had voted against the idea of bringing in a foreign coach in a referendum initiated by Laporte earlier this month.
The Rugby World Cup begins on September 20 in Japan and France begin their campaign a day later against Argentina in Pool C.