Antoine Dupont in France starting XV for Boks clash

France captain and No 9 Antoine Dupont has been named in the starting team for his side’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final match against the Springboks in Saint-Denis, Paris, on Sunday (9pm).

Dupont was in a race to be fit for the knockout stages after breaking his cheekbone in the Pool A match against Namibia last month.

The 27-year-old underwent surgery a few weeks ago and returned to training only this week, after getting the all-clear from his surgeon.

The French starting team to take on the defending world champions shows no other changes from the side that beat Italy in their final pool game.

“I feel good. My recovery has gone well,” Dupont told the media on Friday.

“A World Cup is long … I was lucky the injury happened early on (in the competition, on September 21). It was important for me to tick all the boxes before coming back.”

The most interesting aspect of the French side is that coach Fabien Galthie has opted for a split of 6-2 between forwards and backs on his bench, while the Boks, who made the split famous in Japan four years ago, have on this occasion gone with the more traditional 5-3 split.