Eurosport-Yahoo! spoke to new France captain Lionel Nallet ahead of the Six Nations, and he insists Les Bleus are not focused on gaining revenge against England.

Nallet was named skipper by recently-appointed coach Thomas Lievremont and replaces Rafael Ibanez, who captained the side during their World Cup semi-final loss to England.

But Castres lock Nallet claimed that the defending Six Nations champions are just as focused on beating the other four teams as they are England.

"We have to beat England as we have to beat everyone in this tournament," Nallet said in London ahead of the tournament start in February.

"Everyone wants to stamp their authority as soon as possible and gain confidence, while the players in the squad want to play the best rugby that they can.

"When you ask me which group of forwards I am most looking forward to doing battle with, it has to be Scotland - they are who we face in our first match, so all we are thinking about is them.

"Afterwards we can talk about revenge - it would be a good thing to get," Nallet added with a smile.

Although Nallet was a member of the World Cup squad, he was controversially not chosen for the XV that went down in the semi-final.

But the 31-year-old insists that he felt the pain as much as any of the France players and now wants to start a new chapter under Lievremont.

The semi-final defeat, and the three tournament losses, clearly left a mark on French rugby and Nallet feels it is time to draw a line under the World Cup.

"These chances don't come along too often, the chance to win a World Cup, not at home in France anyway," he added.

"For me the disappointment was big. But when you are a sportsman, and in life in general, you have to know how to get over these disappointments."

The 31-year-old also explained that he did not feel any additional pressure from leading Les Bleus.

"No, I don't feel any pressure, not especially," he said.

"When I saw that I had been marked down as captain on a list alongside players that I've known since I was 16, it gave me a lot of pleasure to have this responsibility."

Missing from that list was Nallet's fellow Castres lock Pascal Pape.

"These are the choices that they (the selectors) made, there are always questions to answer after a World Cup, when they want to see new players," he said.

"They are obliged make these decisions.

"Still, I'm sad for Pascal because he's someone I know well. But that's rugby, the squad has been chosen and what's done is done."

Added to the France squad were locks Arnaud Mela of Albi and 22-year-old Loic Jacquet of Clermont Auvergne, players Nallet feels can make a big impact for Les Bleus.

"Loic is someone I know well, having played with him before, and it's great to have him on board," Nallet explained.

"Arnaud is someone I have played against and he is pretty similar to me on the pitch. Our encounters have sometimes been a bit physical, you could say.

"He has a really important job to play for us and our styles complement each other well.

France open their Six Nations campaign against Scotland at Murrayfield on February 3.

A favourable schedule then sees them play Ireland, England and Italy in Paris before a closing match with Wales in Cardiff on March 15.

Reda Maher / Eurosport