‘A great sense of pride’: Alexandra Chambon named France captain for New Zealand tour

With Pauline Bourdon Sansus unavailable for France’s three-Test tour of New Zealand, François Ratier has named Alexandra Chambon as captain.

The 26-year-old scrum-half is the team’s third-choice captain, with Manae Feleu prioritising her medical studies and Bourdon Sansus remaining in France this October for personal reasons.

Captain of her club side, FC Grenoble Amazones, in AXA Élite 1, Chambon will lead an inexperienced France team that will also be without Yllana Brosseau, Siobhan Soqeta and Charlotte Escudero.

“First of all, a great sense of pride,” Chambon told France Rugby. “It’s a role that naturally brings that with it. I’m also very grateful to the coaching staff for the trust they’ve placed in me.

“I hope this tour will be just as wonderful as the one we recently had in France, because everything went so well there. My goal is to support everyone as much as possible, since we have a squad that still includes quite a few new faces.”

“I know I’ll be well supported by Gabi [Gabriel Vernier], Annaëlle [Annaëlle Deshayes] and Léa [Léa Champon] — I even room with Léa,” Chambon continued.

“It makes the experience even better to share it with them. I already have plenty of experience playing alongside these players in the matches and competitions we’ve been through together. We get along really well, which will be a huge help in this role, and we’ll be able to support one another.”

France began their WXV Global Series campaign against the Black Ferns in Lyon, losing 28-14 to Whitney Hansen’s side before recording wins against Australia and Canada.

Three more Test matches against New Zealand are sure to test France. The Black Ferns’ last-gasp defeat to the Red Roses at Allianz Stadium was the team’s first loss of 2026 and their first defeat under Hansen.

Facing the second-highest-ranked team in the World Rugby rankings will be a major challenge for France, who are still finding their feet under Ratier, having seen him take charge at the start of the calendar year.

“The goal, obviously, is to go out and perform well away from home against a top-four team,” Chambon said. “We’ve shown that we’re on the right track: we learn from every match, and no two games play out the same way.”

“We will therefore need to adapt and really go out and get results against the top-four teams. New Zealand is one of them; we are set to face them three times, so we have to find a way to beat them on their home turf. That is the goal.”