Thierry Dusautoir has said he made his decision to quit international rugby after recent discussions with the new Francecoach, Guy Novès, reports The Guardian.
“We arrived at the same conclusions,” the 34-year-old captain told L’Equipe. “If I had tried to continue, forcing to do, I would have shown more vanity than anything else. In fact, I believe that this is the wisest decision.”
Dusautoir made his Test debut in 2006 and won 80 caps. The flanker’s last appearance was in the World Cup quarter-finals in October, when France suffered a record 62-13 loss to the eventual champions New Zealand.
“It was clear that I would not be playing the next World Cup [in Japan in 2019],” he said. “I’ve always set myself big goals but this one was not reachable and it was never in my intention to just grab a few more caps.”
Born in the Ivory Coast, Dusautoir moved to France when he was 10 and did not start playing rugby until he was 16 because his mother thought the sport was too rough for her son.
He made his test debut nine years ago, against Romania, and often saved his best performances for the World Cup. He made 38 tackles and scored a try in France’s shock win over New Zealand in the 2007 quarter-finals. Four years later, Dusautoir scored France’s only try in the final, won 8-7 by New Zealand. Despite being on the losing team, he was named man of the match and later World Rugby’s Player of the Year.