Antoine Dupont handed fly-half role as France face injury crisis

France captain Antoine Dupont has been selected at fly-half for Friday's Nations Championship clash against world champions South Africa, as head coach Fabien Galthie deals with a shortage of specialist options at number 10.

Dupont will make his first international start in the position, with Maxime Lucu moving to scrum-half for the match at the Stade de France in Paris.

France are without four leading fly-half options: Romain Ntamack, Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy. Ntamack suffered a dislocated shoulder during last weekend's 54-17 victory over Fiji, while the other three are also unavailable.

Galthie said the combination of Dupont and Lucu offered France the best solution, despite the challenge of facing the powerful Springboks.

Dupont has limited experience at fly-half, having started there only a handful of times for Toulouse. Uncapped 22-year-old Axel Desperes has been named among the replacements and could make his international debut.

France will also welcome back Gregory Alldritt, who returns at number eight, while Julien Marchand starts at hooker.