France captain Antoine Dupont will fill in at fly-half for Friday’s Nations Championship game against world champions South Africa in Paris.
Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, who was born and raised in London but moved to France as a 19-year-old after struggling to get a professional contract in England, will win his fourth cap on the wing.
Grandidier-Nkanang focused on Sevens, winning Olympic gold alongside Dupont in 2024 before making a successful switch back to the 15-a-side game with Pau.
Dupont, a specialist scrum-half with only a handful of appearances at 10, has been forced into fly-half by the absence of Matthieu Jalibert, Romain Ntamack, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy.
It had been expected that Maxime Lucu, another scrum-half, would play at fly-half.
Lucu came off the bench to replace Ntamack, who suffered a shoulder injury 32 minutes into Saturday’s 54-17 victory over Fiji.
Lucu has the more recent experience as a starting fly-half at club level, having played at 10 for Bordeaux-Begles against Gloucester last month.
However, France coach Fabian Galthie has opted for Dupont, who filled in at fly-half for Toulouse during an injury crisis in the 2023-24 season.
Galthie has selected hooker Julien Marchand and number eight Gregory Alldritt, who was left out of this year’s Six Nations, to counter the Springboks’ forward power.
“I don’t even know if Dupont’s team-mates know exactly what he’s going to do next, so he’s just really playing on instinct, which is tough to handle,” South Africa coach Erasmus said this week.
He has made only one change to the side that thrashed Italy 66-7 on Saturday, with Wilco Louw replacing former Bath prop Thomas du Toit.
South Africa have won nine of their past 10 Tests against France, including a 14-man victory last autumn and a one-point quarter-final victory at the 2023 World Cup.
France: Attissogbe; Grandidier-Nkanang, Gourgues, Moefana, Bielle-Biarrey; Dupont, Lucu; Falatea, Marchand, Gros, Verhaeghe, Guillard, Cros, Woki, Alldritt.
Replacements: Mauvaka, Neti, Montagne, Ollivon, Staniforth, Capilla, Desperes, Gailleton.
South Africa: Willemse; Arendse, Kriel, de Allende, Hooker; Feinberg-Mngomezulu, van den Berg; Nche, Marx, Louw, de Jager, Nortje, PS du Toit, Kolisi, Wiese.
Replacements: Wessels, Steenekamp, T du Toit, Mostert, Hanekom, de Villiers, Reinach, Libbok.