France will try to win the Six Nations without its talisman after captain Antoine Dupont ruptured cruciate ligaments in his right knee at the weekend.

France's star scrum-half Antoine Dupont was forced out of his team's crucial Six Nations game against Ireland after sustaining an injury in the first half at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.

Antoine Dupont has revealed that he ruptured his “cruciate ligaments” during France’s Six Nations win over Ireland, with the scrum half facing a long lay-off. Dupont was carried off after half-an-hour in Dublin after an incident at a ruck involving Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter.