France have turned to captain Antoine Dupont to solve their fly half crisis with the Toulouse playmaker wearing No 10 against South Africa.

Head coach Fabien Galthie saw Romain Ntamack go down with a shoulder injury in the Nations Championship win over Fiji, and is also without Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy.

That has meant he has made the bold call to hand Dupont a first international start at fly half, with Maxime Lucu brought into the starting side at scrum half.

Dupont operates in the role semi-regularly for Toulouse, although faces a stiff challenge against a fully-loaded Springboks side in Paris on Friday night.

Elsewhere, there is a recall for No 8 Gregory Alldritt, a high-profile omission from Galthie’s Six Nations squad earlier in the year. Francois Cros moves on to the flank opposite Cameron Woki, while hooker Julien Marchand is a welcome returnee in the front row.

Young Pau fly half Axel Desperes provides cover for Dupont on the bench and is in line for a debut.

South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus had predicted that Galthie might use the versatile Toulouse midfielder Kalvin Gourgues at fly half, but France have backed their skipper in the role.

Lucu was another option having come on for Ntamack in Lyon last weekend, and having started at fly half in the recent Champions Cup game with Gloucester for Bordeaux-Begles.

France were beaten 32-17 by the Springboks in their last meeting in November of last year.

France XV to face South Africa in Paris (Friday 13 November, 8.10pm GMT): 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Julien Marchand, 3 Sipili Falatea; 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 5 Mickael Guillard; 6 Francois Cros, 7 Cameron Woki, 8 Gregory Alldritt; 9 Maxime Lucu, 10 Antoine Dupont (capt.); 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 12 Yoram Moefana, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang; 15 Theo Attissogbe.

Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Regis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla: 22 Axel Desperes, 23 Emilien Gailleton.