Chabal trying not to dwell on France rugby snub

Sebastien Chabal said Tuesday he was trying not to dwell on his non-selection for the France team for the World Cup but would instead be focusing on what could be his final season with Top 14 side Racing Metro. Capped 62 times for his country, Chabal is hugely popular with the fans in France and has long been seen as a driving force in the French pack. But his recent performances for the national side had been poor and coach Marc Lievremont decided to leave him at home, calling up instead the then uncapped Raphael Lakafia of Biarritz for the tournament in New Zealand. Chabal, 33, said that he had accepted Lievremont's decision - which was the first of two blows to hit the player earlier this year as he received a 60 day ban later reduced on appeal for remarks he made in an interview in May in which he criticised Top 14 referees, calling them hopeless. "In any case I knew that my international career wasn't going to last forever. I was counting on it lasting until the World Cup. Unfortunately it's not up to me to decide and it ended beforehand," he told AFP. "But I've dived back again 200 percent into club activites and I'm counting on making the most of these remaining seasons with Racing and not on making myself sick because of this non-selection." Chabal's club Racing Metro will take on last season's surprise finalists Montpellier in the opening match of the 2011/2012 season on Friday which will give them a chance at avenging their defeat at the hands of their opponents in the championship semi-finals. And he believes that the club based in the Paris suburbs will be trying to hit hard in their opening matches of the season. "It's true, compared to other big stables we're less affected by the World Cup. We're missing six or seven players even if they are regularly first choice players. "At the beginning of the season even if we host four times in the first five matches we're hosting the big ones (Montpellier, Perpignan, Clermont, Lyon then travel to champions Toulouse). "Some would see it as an advantage, others as an inconvenience. It looks easier for us but I remain wary all the same." Chabal, who has one season left on his contract, said he was uncertain what the future holds. "I don't know at all. I don't know if I'm going to continue or stop," he said. "I'm going to discuss it with my president, I'll see what they want and I'll decide when the moment comes."