Injury-ravaged France hand Capilla debut as Dupont and Ntamack reunite against Fiji

Esteban Capilla is set to become France’s newest Test player when Fabien Galthié names the 23-year-old Bayonne back-row on the bench for Saturday’s Nations Championship fixture against Fiji in Lyon. The call comes after Toulouse flanker Anthony Jelonch joined an already lengthy casualty list, having sustained a head injury in last weekend’s Top 14 action.

Jelonch’s absence adds to a mounting pile of problems for Galthié, with Emmanuel Meafou, Thibaud Flament, Matthieu Jalibert and Thomas Ramos all sidelined. To cover the back-row, the France head coach has turned to Capilla — a France Sevens international making the step up to the XV-a-side Test arena for the first time.

Despite the disruption, there is genuine excitement in the starting line-up. Captain Antoine Dupont will reprise his half-back partnership with Romain Ntamack for the first time since March 2025, a combination that injuries and strategic rests had kept apart throughout much of the intervening period. The Toulouse club-mates are widely regarded as the axis around which France’s best rugby is built.

With Meafou and Flament unavailable in the second row, Galthié has opted to keep four locks in his squad and maintain a 6-2 forward-to-back split on the bench. Montpellier’s Florian Verhaeghe and Lyon’s Mickaël Guillard will start in the engine room, while Charles Ollivon and Tom Staniforth provide cover from the replacements bench.

In the back-row, François Cros will wear the No.8 jersey, flanked by Cameron Woki and Paul Boudehent. Out wide, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang offer pace and finishing quality, with Théo Attissogbe at full-back.

France XV: 15 Théo Attissogbe, 14 Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang, 13 Kalvin Gourgues, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c); 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros, 2 Maxime Lamothe, 3 Sipili Falatea, 4 Florian Verhaeghe, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 6 Cameron Woki, 7 Paul Boudehent, 8 François Cros.

Replacements: 16 Peato Mauvaka, 17 Jefferson Poirot, 18 Régis Montagne, 19 Charles Ollivon, 20 Tom Staniforth, 21 Esteban Capilla, 22 Maxime Lucu, 23 Emilien Gailleton.