Nick Mallett has reacted to Fabien Galthie’s decision to select Antoine Dupont at fly-half amid an injury crisis in the position.

The French captain will don the number 10 jumper against the Springboks in the Nations Championship fixture at the Stade de France in Paris, starting at fly-half for the first time for France.

Injuries have robbed Galthie of the four candidates he would have likely turned to this November, with Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Hastoy and Thomas Ramos all ruled out before this month’s Test matches kicked off, while Romain Ntamack sustained a shoulder injury in the victory over Fiji last week.

Nick Mallett: Antoine Dupont is an absolutely sensational player

While Louis Carbonel was one of the reinforcements called into the squad, France’s coaching team have opted to deploy Dupont in the fly-half role instead, with debutant Axel Desperes providing cover on the bench. Dupont is regarded by many as the best scrum-half in the game but Maxime Lucu has been superb for Les Bleus when the skipper has been absent.

Lucu also has experience at fly-half and was one of the candidates considered for the role but Mallett believes that the more robust Dupont shifted instead because of his ability in defence.

“He is an absolutely sensational rugby player. You get players who can play in more than one position. I’ll use Sacha or Damian Willemse, for example; they can play centre, full-back, and fly-half, and I think Dupont is the same. Just remember what he did as a sevens player; he was able to dominate that seven series and get an Olympic gold medal,” the former Springboks boss said on the Talking Boks podcast.

“He’s a very good defender. He’s incredibly strong around the hips. I think that was probably one of the reasons why they didn’t want Lucu at fly-half. Lucu is one of those very intelligent rugby players who can play nine and 10 as well. He has played 10 for his club, but I just think from a defensive point of view, the 10 kgs more that Dupont has will help against the Springboks’ attack.

“If you had Lucu in that fly-half channel and our forwards were coming around the corner, and our centres were taking it up, he’d have a long afternoon. Now I’m sure we’re going to do the same with Dupont, but he’s a very, very sturdy guy and I don’t think he’s going to have problems defensively.”

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Lucu-Dupont combination

The Lucu-Dupont combination is one that could cause problems for the Springboks, according to Mallett, who predicts that the French will look to keep possession as much as possible despite the kicking prowess the two playmakers possess.

While the duo will play a big role in the outcome of the game, he believes that the match will be won or lost up front.

“So for me, it’s more for those reasons that you’ve got a tactical kicker, you’ve got a very intelligent goal kicker in Lucu who is very accurate, and you’ve got not the play off the cuff – but he does play off the cuff from Dupont. You’ve also got a very good kicking game from Dupont at 10, as well as a lot of intelligence on attack,” he continued.

“So 9 and 10 can both kick and defend – Dupont probably better in the fly-half channel as I mentioned. I haven’t seen him play a lot at 10. So his distribution I’m not sure of, but he’s got a very talented backline outside him, and I can’t see him kicking the ball away all day. They’re definitely going to hold on to the ball.

“The way that they play, they often switch their nine and 10; if they go into the wide channels and it goes into the far 15, then Dupont, having played 10, will move into nine and Lucu, from nine, will just move into 10. So, they’ll alternate that way.

“It’s not there where the game is going to be won. Games are won by the forwards, and it’s the pack of forwards that’s going to have to stand up against the Boks, not nine and 10.”