France forced into bold Antoine Dupont call for Springboks

Fabien Galthié has made the bold call to move Antoine Dupont to fly-half for France’s Nations Championship clash with South Africa at the Stade de France on Friday night.

With Romain Ntamack ruled out after dislocating his shoulder against Fiji, and Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy also unavailable, Dupont shifts from his usual scrum-half role to No.10 alongside Maxime Lucu.

It is the headline selection in a France side reshaped by another difficult week on the injury front. Paul Boudehent, who started and scored in the 54-17 win over Fiji, has also withdrawn with a calf injury, with Paul Gabrillagues called into the wider squad but not included in the matchday 23.

Lucu therefore starts at scrum-half after finishing the Fiji match at fly-half, while uncapped Pau playmaker Axel Desperes is named among the replacements as cover.

Elsewhere, Julien Marchand returns at hooker between Jean-Baptiste Gros and Sipili Falatea, with Florian Verhaeghe and Mickaël Guillard in the second-row. François Cros, Cameron Woki and Grégory Alldritt form the back-row, with the No.8 marking an end to near a year-long exile from Galthie’s squads.

Yoram Moefana and Kalvin Gourgues continue in midfield, while Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang start on the wings, with Théo Attissogbe at full-back.

France will attempt to build on their eight-try victory over Fiji, but the challenge increases sharply against the world champions, who have made only one change to the starting XV that demolished Italy 66-7.

The match will be the final meeting between the two sides before a potential 2027 World Cup semi-final, and will be a return to the scene of their infamous 2023 World Cup quarter-final clash.

France XV: 15 Théo Attissogbe, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Antoine Dupont, 9 Maxime Lucu; 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Sipili Falatea, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 6 François Cros, 7 Cameron Woki, 8 Grégory Alldritt.
Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Régis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla, 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Émilien Gailleton.