ANTOINE DUPONT CAPTAINS France for their Six Nations opener against Wales on Friday night after missing last season’s tournament due to his Olympic Sevens commitments.

Scrum-half Dupont is partnered at half-back by Toulouse team-mate Romain Ntamack in five changes from Les Bleus’ last game, November’s win over Argentina.

Ntamack makes his first Test appearance since August 2023 having sustained two long-term injuries.

👋🔥 Vendredi, vos Bleus lanceront 𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐢 𝐝𝐞𝐬 #𝐒𝐢𝐱𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓 au @StadeFrance ! 🇫🇷🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿#XVdeFrance #NeFaisonsXV #FRAGAL pic.twitter.com/vUaNiNhSyd

— France Rugby (@FranceRugby) January 29, 2025

France have won 15 out of 19 Six Nations games with Dupont and Ntamack starting, including the run to the 2022 Grand Slam title.

Among the other alterations are Theo Attissogbe coming in on the right wing owing to an injury to Damian Penaud.

On the opposite flank is Penaud’s fellow Bordeaux-Begles flyer in Louis Bielle-Biarrey, who has scored 16 tries for club and country this season.

In midfield, Pierre-Louis Barassi replaces the injured Gael Fickou and last year’s Six Nations skipper Gregory Alldritt is at No 8 instead of Ollivon.

Alexandre Roumat comes in for Flament at lock.

France 

15. Thomas Ramos

14. Theo Attissogbe

13. Pierre-Louis Barassi

12. Yoram Moefana

11. Louis Bielle-Biarrey

10. Romain Ntamack

9. Antoine Dupont (capt)

1. Jean-Baptiste Gros

2. Peato Mauvaka

3. Uini Atonio

4. Alexandre Roumant

5. Emmanuel Meafou

6. Francois Cros

7. Paul Boudehent   

8. Gregory Alldritt

Replacements:

16. Julien Marchand

17. Cyril Baille

18. Georges-Henri Colombe

19. Hugo Auradou

20. Mickael Guillard

21. Oscar Jegou

22. Nolann Le Garrec

23. Emilien Gailleton

– © AFP 2025