PARIS (AP) — Captain Antoine Dupont has had one training run as France’s emergency flyhalf for the showdown with world champion South Africa on Friday in rugby’s Nations Championship.

Regarded as the world’s best scrumhalf, Dupont was the novel stopgap choice at flyhalf after Romain Ntamack dislocated his shoulder against Fiji last Saturday, piling on to France’s injured No. 10s Matthieu Jalibert, Thomas Ramos and Antoine Hastoy.

Maxime Lucu, Dupont’s regular backup scrumhalf, comfortably played the last 50 minutes against Fiji at flyhalf.

But in the clash between the hemisphere leaders on Friday night, Lucu will be at scrumhalf and passing to Dupont at the Stade de France.

The captain has started at flyhalf in a handful of professional games for his Toulouse club, and shone in a couple, but never begun a test match in the 10 jersey.

“It was a choice that we (he and coach Fabien Galthié) discussed together,” Dupont said on Thursday at the captain’s run. ”We didn’t have a lot of time to think about it either: We had to make this decision quickly then test this combination on a single training session.

“These are two very different positions, but also very linked. With Maxime, we both have this versatility. So we tried to exchange and prepare ourselves as much as possible to adapt. We also worked on some things in our only available training, building on our respective knowledge of these positions. We looked for the combination that could work best for the team, with maximum adaptation.

“Everyone has different qualities and we’re working to allow the team to play its best. It will be, above all, a question of adaptation.”

Springboks unfazed

South Africa counterpart Siya Kolisi wasn’t surprised by Dupont’s shift.

“He’s played there before for his club, and he played very well. He can play almost anywhere on the field and he’s a good enough player to do it,” Kolisi said.

But neither was Kolisi fazed by what Dupont and Lucu can or will do. The Springboks expect the pair to swap places during the match to speed up their attack.

“Our system doesn’t change for any team we play against,” Kolisi said.

“We’ve watched clips and seen how they play, and we’ve watched how he plays at flyhalf, too, so we haven’t done anything special for him individually because he’s playing at No 10.

“Maxime Lucu has also played flyhalf for Bordeaux, so it will happen naturally for them to swap. Antoine wants to be on the ball a lot and he creates a lot of play on the field, so for him to go to scrumhalf will also be natural, and they’ll be able to adjust. That said, our system is prepared for that.”

Springboks dominate history

The Springboks have won nine of the last 10 matches with France. They haven’t lost to France in Paris in 21 years. Dupont has tasted victory against South Africa only once.

He noted that beating the Boks will have to start, as always, up front.

“They are a team that loses very little and is particularly difficult to beat. But they can be caught out like every team,” Dupont said. “They very often manage to make up for their mistakes thanks to their collective strength. We will try to find flaws in their game, there are solutions to them.

“Once again, we will first have to take up the physical challenge and win our collisions. Then, we will have to be constantly reading the game and able to seize opportunities. They will probably be few in number but we will have to be as pragmatic as possible when we have them.”

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