Antoine Dupont

France merit favourite status and are in pole position to repeat their title success of two seasons ago

France will also miss out on Emmanuel Meafou and Anthony Jelonch after they picked up injuries

Toulouse, La Rochelle and Bordeaux-Begles have all underlined their potential as Champions Cup contenders with impressive displays

Failure to score try bonus point could prove costly while Rob Herring set to undergo surgery for bicep injury

Tis the season to send a message of support to one of international rugby’s finest players

FFR’s Florian Grill’s sanction of Dupont to play Olympics over Six Nations must play well with the French government

France head coach Fabien Galthié will need to appoint a new captain and starting scrumhalf for the Six Nations as Dupont switches to sevens

‘I am not sure the level of refereeing was up to what was at stake’

Second half recovery sees the Springboks knock France out of their home tournament

France v South Africa: Scrumhalf returns only three weeks after breaking cheekbone for Sunday’s quarter-final with defending champions

Antoine Dupont fractured his jaw against Namibia on September 24th, but no word yet on whether he will line out against the Springboks on Sunday

Appeal submitted to Cas which temporarily delays punishments for South African government failing to sign up to Wada code

France captain has been recovering from facial injury suffered against Namibia earlier in the tournament

Scrumhalf to see surgeon on Monday to decide if he can resume physical contact at training

Rugby World Cup: Ireland must be wary of buoyant Scotland, and Fiji need to get their mojo back

France captain had sustained injury in head-to-head clash with Johan Deysel of Namibia

Rugby World Cup: Exemplary sentences required to rid the game of dangerous hits that are still prevalent

France eager to have their scrumhalf available but World Rugby regulations could cause complications

Any World Cup which loses the world’s best player is simply the poorer for his absence

France captain sustained injury in head-to-head clash with Johan Deysel of Namibia

The French await the All Blacks test as Rugby World Cup fever reaches boiling point

Holders South Africa and Pacific Islanders the other winners on an interesting weekend

Three Leinster players on five-man shortlist for EPCR Player of the Year award

The Leinster and Ireland scrumhalf projects a blue-clad blur of activity, perpetually in motion

French trio Antoine Dupont, Thomas Ramos and Damian Penaud also nominated

Our team give their choices for the best game, the best player and the best try from the championship

If you can’t get giddy about this bunch, you’re tragically giddy-averse

Fabien Galthie had never lost to Ireland as a player or coach and his side were stunning in patches but it just wasn’t enough in the end

Irish province know all about La Rochelle but they still need to execute their gameplan

Province’s opportunity to win fifth star will only become more difficult to create in future

Having come tantalisingly close in recent years, this Leinster group has what it takes

Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan and James Lowe, included on five-man shortlist

All in all it wasn’t a great weekend for the men in the middle in European semi-finals

Aside from turnover try and another off a catch-and-drive, Toulouse hardly threatened

Clash of competition’s most successful sides makes for match of season on Irish soil

Workload of French side’s star players considerably higher than that of hosts Leinster

In-form scrumhalf’s head-to-head with Dupont at the Aviva an enticing prospect

The teams couldn’t be separated after normal and extra-time at the Aviva Stadium

Agonisingly small margins for Ulster as potent Dupont-Ntamack threat proves key for Toulouse

Toulouse win sees them travel to take on Munster in Dublin while Leinster are also away