All eyes on poster boy Dupont as France captain returns to face South Africa

PARIS : Antoine Dupont's face is for everyone to see as the mercurial scrumhalf is the Rugby World Cup's poster boy, and 80,000 pairs of eyes will be on the France captain as he takes to the field for their quarter-final clash against South Africa on Sunday.

Coach Fabien Galthie lifted all doubts about Dupont's condition when he named the 26-year-old in the starting line-up for the Stade de France game after the player underwent surgery on a broken cheekbone three weeks ago.

"It changes a lot of things. We have confidence in all our 9s, and Antoine gives us a lot of confidence," flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert told a press conference.

"He's capable of making big differences, and he instils fear in the opposition. He's 100 per cent, even if he's wearing a helmet."

While Jalibert shone more than usual with his Begles-Bordeaux club partner Maxime Lucu in France's 60-7 crushing of Italy last week, he obviously welcomes the return of Dupont, the 2021 World Player of the Year.

"The whole team are delighted to have him back. It's always a pleasure to play with him, and it's easy to adapt to his game. He's got the same role he had at the start of the competition. He'll play his part," Jalibert said.

His part will include creating space in the South African's barbed-wire defence and have his usual influence on the course of the game.

READY TO SUFFER

"Antoine is obviously the captain of the team, he has an influence on the group, as well as on the referees and opponents," said fullback Thomas Ramos, who has been extremely precise from the tee at the World Cup.

"He has a very long kicking game and can find gaps whenever he wants. He was voted best player in the world. There's a reason for that."

Dupont said he had no apprehension whatsoever