Antoine Dupont won’t be rushed back to full fitness, having spent the last five months on the sidelines.
The scrum-half ruptured a cruciate ligament in his right knee during the 2025 Six Nations match against Ireland and has been sidelined ever since.
Dupont has been rehabilitating the injury for the past five months, and there was a hope that he would recover in time for the November internationals.
Rehab continues
He spent two weeks in Switzerland, at the Hôpital de La Tour based in Meyrin, a sports medicine centre where he followed “a structured and intensive program, designed to support him towards an optimal return to the field,” as stated in a Toulouse press release.
The French captain has now returned to his club and will continue his rehab at the Stade Ernest-Wallon from next week.
Speaking to L’Equipe last month, Dupont said that he won’t be rushing back.
“I will be eight months on from my injury,” the Toulouse half-back said.
“I think it’s a reasonable amount of time. I hope everything will go well between now and then. I’m not sure it would be very intelligent to rush, even if it’s hard to miss international games.”
This means that he will miss the start of Toulouse’s Top 14 campaign and France’s November Tests against South Africa, Fiji and Australia.
“I still have a few years of my career left and knees, I only have two, one of which is already badly damaged,” Dupont added.
Rugby World Cup ‘injustice’ still taking its toll on Antoine Dupont
The French coaching team have reportedly conceded that they will be without the number nine for the three Tests in November, with Les Bleus taking on the Springboks for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat.
The two sides are set to collide at the Stade de France on Saturday, November 8.
Maxime Lucu filled Dupont’s void in the starting line-up during the Six Nations while Nolann Le Garrec started in all three Test matches against the All Blacks in New Zealand, with Baptiste Jauneau and Thibault Daubagna coming off the bench.
Lucu is likely to be the man head coach Fabien Galthie turns to in the starting XV for the matches in November.
READ MORE: Ben O’Keeffe reacts to Antoine Dupont’s criticism after France’s Rugby World Cup defeat