Pelous made his test début on 17 October 1995 against
Romania. He proved himself an inspirational captain for France after succeeding
Fabien Galthié ahead of the
2004 RBS
6 Nations and enjoyed immediate success, leading
Les Bleus to the
Grand Slam in his first year and followed that up with a second-placed finish in
2005. Pelous missed the summer test matches in 2005 with a serious knee injury. He returned to action in September and helped France to a 26–16 win over
Australia in November. However, he was handed a nine-week ban in the aftermath of that victory after being found guilty of elbowing Australia hooker
Brendan Cannon. He was due to equal
Philippe Sella's record of 111 caps for France in the opener of the
2007 Six Nations against , but was ruled out of the side due to an ankle injury. After he missed their second Six Nations tie against , he was ruled out of the entire Six Nations. After his injury troubles continued, hooker
Raphaël Ibañez, who had filled in for him as captain during the 2007 Six Nations, was named as France captain for the
2007 Rugby World Cup, with Pelous as unofficial vice-captain. He finally earned his record-equalling 111th cap on 11 August 2007 at
Twickenham against , and took the record by himself a week later in
Les Bleus' return match against England
at Marseille. He ended his international career after the 2007 Rugby World Cup with 118 caps, 42 of them as France captain. He was the first French captain to have beaten Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. ==Club career==