Antoine Dupont to skip Six Nations as he prepares for rugby Sevens at Olympics

France captain Antoine Dupont will sit out next year’s Six Nations to prepare for rugby Sevens at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

The French rugby federation (FFR) confirmed on Wednesday that Dupont will miss the 15-a-side competition, held between February 2nd and March 16th next year. Instead, the 27-year-old will play for his country on the World Rugby seven-a-side circuit, now known as SVNS.

Dupont, his club Toulouse and the FFR are set to hold a joint press conference next Monday, 250 days from the start of the Games. They are expected to confirm Dupont’s absence from the Six Nations, and his plan to prepare for a gold-medal bid with the hosts in next summer’s Olympic Sevens event.

The scrumhalf, who saw France’s Rugby World Cup bid fall short in a painful quarter-final defeat to South Africa, will join up with the national Sevens squad in January. Dupont will then play in SVNS events in Vancouver, Canada in February and in Los Angeles a the start of March.

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Dupont’s absence from the Six Nations will force France head coach Fabien Galthié to name a new captain and starting scrumhalf for the tournament, which they start against Ireland in Marseille on Friday, February 2nd. France will also host Italy and England, with trips to Cardiff and Murrayfield also on their schedule.

As far back as December 2022, Dupont opened the door to playing in the event, which first featured at the Olympic Games in 2016.

“It’s highly motivating,” Dupont told RTL. “It’s incredible when you see the enthusiasm it can create.

“There is a desire from my side to put things in place for me to participate,” Dupont added at the time. “It will be a discussion between the different coaching staff.”

The 2024 men’s and women’s Olympic Sevens tournaments will be held at the Stade de France in July.

A host of leading 15-a-side players have featured at past Olympic Games, including the South Africa winger Cheslin Kolbe and the former New Zealand centre Sonny Bill Williams.

Fiji have won the two men’s gold medals since Sevens was introduced into the Olympics, with the longer format of the sport having last featured in 1924. France’s men’s team did not qualify for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, and lost in the quarter-finals to Japan in 2016.