France have come up with a novel way of solving their injury problem at flyhalf by switching their inspirational scrumhalf Antoine Dupont into the role in a huge call for their clash against the Springboks in the Nations Championship on Friday.

The former World Player of the Year will replace Romain Ntamack, who dislocated his left shoulder in the first half of last weekend’s victory over Fiji in Lyon, with Maxime Lucu taking Dupont’s place at scrumhalf for the clash at Stade de France in Paris (10.10pm SA time).

Lucu came off the bench to play flyhalf for the majority of the 54-17 win over Fiji but Dupont gets the nod for the clash against the world champions, in a calculated gamble, having played flyhalf eight times in his club career, most recently in 2024, though never at test level.

“We have two icons, one playing in Bordeaux [Lucu] and the other in Toulouse [Dupont], whom we have wanted to bring together to lead this French team on Friday evening,” coach Fabien Galthie told a press conference on Wednesday.

“It won’t be easy, but having discussed it with them - we’ve probably talked about it more than we’ve trained for it - we’ve visualised how it will work, and we believe this is the best solution.”

Lucu has proven a more than adept replacement for Dupont at scrumhalf during his spell out with injury and is also likely to take up the kicking duties while Dupont’s silky skills make him one of the game’s most exciting players.

France have Matthieu Jalibert and Thomas Ramos out with thigh injuries, and Antoine Hastoy unavailable after suffering an ankle injury last month.

Had they gone for a specialist to replace Ntamack, they would have likely picked the 22-year-old uncapped Axel Desperes, who has been included on the bench for Friday’s clash.

“We simply did what we felt was best. We haven’t particularly listened to the advice of others,” Galthie said.

“There are plenty of coaches in France offering opinions on team selections, and I can see that people all over the world are interested in our French team. I’m perfectly happy with that. It means Les Bleus are popular.

“So yes, I hear the advice coming from around the world, but ultimately, we know our players very well.”

In other changes, Gregory Alldritt replaces the injured Paul Boudehent in the back row as Francois Cros moves from number eight to blindside flanker.

France have also brought back hooker Julien Marchand, who replaces Maxime Lamothe with Peato Mauvaka retaining his role as the replacement hooker on the bench.