Antoine Dupont will start at fly-half for France against the Springboks.
Two French outlets say he has never started a Test in the No.10 shirt, and Friday’s opponents are the double world champions. So who covers the role if the plan creaks, and which bench shirt is still in dispute?
The France team v the Springboks, named by head coach Fabien Galthié on Wednesday 11 November 2026, puts captain Antoine Dupont at fly-half for the injured Romain Ntamack, with Maxime Lucu at scrum-half and Grégory Alldritt and Julien Marchand back in the starting XV.
Key facts
- Kick-off: Friday 13 November, 21h10 in Paris (20:10 UK, 22:10 SA), Stade de France
- Half-backs: Lucu at 9, Dupont at 10 and captain
- New starters since the 54-17 win over Fiji: Lucu, Alldritt, Marchand
- Out of the 23: Ntamack (shoulder) and hooker Maxime Lamothe
- Bench goal-kicker: Axel Despérès
- Record: South Africa have won nine of the last ten meetings
Two days to build a half-back pairing
Ntamack hurt his shoulder in the win over Fiji in Lyon. Lucu finished that game at 10, which made him the obvious candidate, and Midi Olympique says the staff weighed the call all week.
Galthié moved his captain instead. As Sud Ouest reports his press conference, he said the set-up was put together in two days and that Lucu at 9 with Dupont at 10 gives France the most stability and balance in how the game is run.
READ ALSO: Why Ben Youngs says France cannot afford to lose in Paris
The bench shirt that makes it work
With Lucu now starting at 9, the fly-half cover and the spare boot sit with one replacement back, and Galthié singled out Despérès as a kicker.
Le Rugbynistère says Jean-Baptiste Carbonel, called into the wider squad, was there to make up numbers and was never a serious option. Despérès is the reserve kicker, on Galthié’s own account.
The XV, and the prop at 17 nobody agrees on
Backs: Théo Attissogbe at 15; Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang and Louis Bielle-Biarrey on the wings; Kalvin Gourgues at 13 and Yoram Moefana at 12; Dupont at 10 and Lucu at 9.
Forwards: Jean-Baptiste Gros, Marchand and Sipili Falatea in the front row; Florian Verhaeghe and Mickaël Guillard at lock; François Cros at 6, Cameron Woki at 7 and Alldritt at 8.
Bench: Peato Mauvaka, a prop at 17, Régis Montagne, Charles Ollivon, Tom Staniforth, Esteban Capilla, Despérès and Émilien Gailleton. Midi Olympique lists Neti at 17 and Le Rugbynistère lists Poirot, so we are leaving that shirt unnamed until the federation’s own sheet settles it.
Who is back, and who has moved
Alldritt, the La Rochelle No.8 and a recent France captain, starts after being left out of the last Six Nations. Galthié, per Sud Ouest, said years of heavy club and Test workloads made it hard for him to string games together, but that he is ready.
Cros moves from No.8, where he started against Fiji, to the blindside. Julien Marchand replaces Lamothe at hooker after returning from injury with Toulouse last weekend, and Le Rugbynistère frames his evening as a head-to-head with Malcolm Marx.
The case against Dupont at 10
Not everyone in France is convinced. Midi Olympique’s own standfirst still had Lucu at fly-half, even though its team list and Sud Ouest both put Dupont there; we have followed the lists.
Le Rugbynistère called the selection a surprise and asked whether it is a risky bet. Dupont has not played 10 at all this season, according to Midi Olympique, while Lucu, the man who covered there against Fiji, now runs the base.
What the Springboks bring
Rassie Erasmus has made two changes: Wilco Louw comes in at tighthead and Cobus Reinach joins the bench, with Eben Etzebeth left outside the 23. South Africa have taken nine of the past ten meetings, the latest 32-17 in Paris a year ago.
Galthié called them one of the best sides the game has produced. He also picked out a line from the South African camp, that they have never steamrolled France, and said he knows exactly what they have come to Paris to do.
What happens next
Kick-off is 21h10 in Paris on Friday 13 November, and the rest of the run is on the France fixtures page. We will update this piece if the federation changes the 23 or confirms the prop at 17.
Would you have left Dupont at 9 and handed the No.10 shirt to Lucu, the man who finished the Fiji game there?
Read next
- The one thing every team must make the Springboks do
- The South African centre France called up but cannot pick yet
- The six heavy Springboks defeats since 2019 share one thing
Sources: Midi Olympique, Le Rugbynistère, Sud Ouest (part-paywalled), and our Springboks team news. We paraphrase Galthié, whose words reached us second-hand and in French. The FFR team sheet could not be opened.
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