Dupont forced into fly-half role as France face South Africa test

Antoine Dupont will start at fly-half for France for the first time in his international career when the Springboks visit the Stade de France on Friday, after an injury crisis stripped Fabien Galthié of every recognised option in the position, Independent Sport reports.

Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy are all unavailable, and Romain Ntamack, who had been holding the shirt together, left the field with his arm in a sling during the win over Fiji. That sequence of absences has left Galthié with little choice but to hand the number 10 jersey to his scrum-half captain.

Dupont, 29, does have some experience in the role for Toulouse, where he features there with reasonable regularity, though Independent Sport notes he still faces a steep step up against the world champions. Maxime Lucu will partner him at scrum-half, meaning two of France's most creative players are paired in the same midfield axis rather than facing each other across it.

Yahoo Sports detailed further team news, with Grégory Alldritt recalled at number eight for his first international involvement in close to a year, pushing François Cros out to the flank. Julien Marchand returns at hooker, sending Péato Mauvaka to the bench, while uncapped Pau playmaker Axel Desperes is included among the replacements, poised for a potential debut.

The fixture carries weight beyond Friday's result. Guardian Rugby Union, via Andy Bull, frames this as a collision between the two strongest sides left in the inaugural Nations Championship, with France the back-to-back Six Nations champions and South Africa the back-to-back world champions heading into a final at Twickenham in two weeks.

Bull's reporting lays out just how one-sided this rivalry has become: South Africa have won nine of the last ten meetings between the two sides across 15 years, and have won the last five in Paris specifically. England, Ireland and even Wales all boast superior head-to-head records against the Springboks over the same period, according to the Guardian.

France's solitary victory in that run came in Marseille in 2022, and whatever confidence it built was dismantled a year later when South Africa eliminated the hosts at the quarter-final stage of their home World Cup, the Guardian adds.

Yahoo Sports notes the Springboks arrive in Paris having already secured a top-two finish in their pool after beating Italy comfortably, leaving them to fight New Zealand for a place in the Nations Championship final. A trip to Dublin to face Ireland follows swiftly after this match, adding to the demands of a congested fortnight for Rassie Erasmus's squad.

France, for their part, were beaten by a 14-man South Africa the last time the sides met twelve months ago, and Galthié's team will be looking to make a statement regardless of the selection emergency at fly-half, Yahoo Sports reports.

Kick-off at the Stade de France is scheduled for 8.10pm GMT on Friday, with the match broadcast live in the United Kingdom on ITV and ITVX.