Can late-bloomer Maxime Lucu be France’s number one No.9 in Nations Championship?

Turn back the clock to September 21, 2023. At 45^th minutes of pool play in between France and Namibia, Johan Deysel produced a stunning tackle against superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupont. The magician from Toulouse left the field holding his face and the rugby nation audibly held its breath. The game should have been a cake walk in the group stages – it finished 96-0 to France – but the depth of its impact rumbled around the rest of the competition like a distant thunderclap in an echo chamber.

A day later, the full extent of the damage was revealed: a maxillo-zygomatic fracture, or a broken cheekbone like you and me. It seemed impossible that Dupont would be ready for the quarter-finals against the reigning world champions and the most aggressively physical team on the planet in rugby in just three weeks. But he was ready – ‘Touché, mais pas coulé’ as Dupont himself wrote, referring to the popular naval combat game: ‘Hit but not sunk’.

For a while it looked like he might put on a face mask more suited to melodrama Phantom of the Opera but a game of international rugby. It was down to one metal plate on his face, a scrum cap on top of his head and just 21 days of recovery, but he was never the same overwhelming force on the field.

The magic was gone, and cooler heads in French rugby rightly criticized the dangers of an early return to action, indirectly poking holes in an over-dependence on one man. While head coach Fabien Galthié claimed that ‘if we put a player on the field, it is because we have confirmed his ability to play’, former France back-line player Olivier Magne more soberly suggested that, ‘there is a level of danger that is significant with an early return, so you have to be careful. There is a problem with the message it sends to the general public by allowing a player to return from such a serious injury.’

In that case, Magne was closer to the goal than Galti. Dupont certainly played his part in the quarterfinals, but the battle was never magnetically drawn into his sphere of influence as it had been in the past. The master puppeteer was now only part of the show; the Olympic hero of French rugby is now just a very talented mortal.

The outcome of that tournament left French rugby with a deep sense of unfinished business. As Dupont’s second in command, Maxime Lucu observed after the 29-28 loss to the Springboks: ‘It was a massive defeat for us. For us French people, it really stuck with us. It was our World Cup and they came and stole it from us. It was such a great game.’

It might have been unthinkable three years ago, but now it’s a harsh reality. Whisper it: Antoine Dupont is no longer an automatic choice at half-time in the French national team.

Like many traumatic reversals, that quarter-final in 2023 may have made French rugby mighty in the long run. That awakened Galti and his corps of assistant coaches to the need to not only provide meaningful coverage for Dupont’s absences, including the week at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but also to examine real alternatives for little general in the starting lineup. Since 2023, the alternates have collectively started more games than the mainstay: Dupont has run in 12 games, Luca in nine (plus a long-term replacement when Dupont went down injured in just 26 games).^th minute 2025 Six Nations decider in Dublin); young Rochelais Nolann Le Garrec in six games and Baptiste Serin in two. Two more Baptists, Couilloud and Jauneau, plus Thibauld Dabagna, were used as substitutes.

As those statistics suggest, the main alternative to Dupont was Luca from two-time European Cup winners Union Bordeaux-Bègles, but in the process, the ‘alternative’ graduated to ‘rival’. That might have been unthinkable three years ago, but now it’s a harsh reality. Whisper it: Antoine Dupont is no longer an automatic choice at half-time in the French national team.

That reality makes a ‘protected list’ of 33 premium Top 14 the runway players for the 2027 World Cup look pretty ironic, at least as it stands. Protected status means players involved must be given one free club weekend every four, or two every eight during the season by their top 14 clubs. Likewise, they may not play more than nine Tests per season.

The protected status is designed to provide a layer of insulation against the injury losses that have plagued France’s last World Cup effort, with giant South African lock Paul Willemse and Romain Ntamack, Dupont’s half-back partner at Stade Toulouse, ruled out before the tournament even started, while prop Cyril Baille and the flankers came in. All of these would be first selections in the strongest France starting XV available at the time.

The current protected list includes 13 red and blacksix brothels, three each from Section Paloise, RC Toulon and Stade Rochelais, two from Race 92 and one each from Montpellier, Clermont and Olympique Lyonnais. One of the famous exempted from it is Lucu, who was injured during the compilation of the list. With all the top men fit and firing, there is no doubt that the Girondins scrum-half should be one of the first assets in French rugby to require immediate protection.

Luca will be 34 years old at the 2027 World Cup Australia starts, but his international career has been a remarkable late-stage development story, having won his first cap for his country aged 28. As his attacking and skills coach at his club, Irishman Noel McNamara marveled, ‘Max Lucu is like Benjamin Button. He seems to be getting better. It’s not a fluke, they (Lucu and his half-back partner Matthieu Jalibert) are trying to connect. They have been together for a long time. There is a really nice symbiosis between the two. A lot of it is work, bonding off the pitch, it’s preparation and understanding what they see.’ Lucu may be getting older, but he provides the perfect foil for his playmaker at number 10, and his enthusiasm for the game is that of a man 10 years his junior.

When called upon to improve his defensive work in the twilight of his playing career, Lucu committed himself where many others may have passed. Modern coaching buzzwords ‘quick recovery’ and ‘repeated engagements’ are everything, nowhere more so than on the defensive side of the ball. Leicester Tigers and England Scrum-half Jack Van Poortvliet said on the record that he models his defensive contribution on the work done by Luca. “The difference he makes for his team defensively is ridiculous,” Van Poortvliet said in wide-eyed admiration.

There remains a strong case for the club’s combination to start from the reigning European Cup champions at half-time with the steadfast Ramos at 15. Dupont could function as a ‘super-sub’ able to cover both nine and 10 off the bench.

Les Bleus already have Nations Championship The game against the mighty Springboks is cemented on November 14, and if they finish top of the northern pile at the end of round six, they could find themselves playing the same opponents for the second time in a fortnight in the final at Twickenham’s Old Cabbage Patch on the 29th.^th. There is a strong case for club cohesion in key back-line positions given the condensed fixture format.

During the first three rounds of the Nations Championship in July, with both Dupont and club-mate Thomas Ramos withdrawn from the opening stages of the competition, Fabien Galthié opted for backbone Luca-Jaliberto at half-time with Racingmen’s Max Spring at full-back. For the next two matches against Australia and Japan he changed that, with Jaliberto moving back and Romain Ntamack chosen to partner Lucu.

The right order at nine, 10 and 15 in the minds of the French supremo still looks and feels uncertain, but there remains a strong case for the club’s combination to start from the reigning European Cup champions at half-time with the indomitable Ramos at 15. Dupont could function as a ‘super-sub’ who could cover both those critical nine and 10 minutes from No. 10 Bokka.

Lucu’s importance to the French cause is underlined by his recent cameo against a high-flying film Lyon OU, in which he showed 22-year-old Hugo Reus around the dark cupboards and corridors of Top 14 rugby. Luca spent only 46 minutes on the field, but his vision of the game dominated the rest:

https://t.co/RAMDwQsDlQ

— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 6, 2026

https://t.co/nzePqsz3KC

— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 6, 2026

Even when playing on the UBB 22, Lucu plays heads-up and looks for a big change of momentum, either through a quick penalty or a massive 50/22 line loss from his left boot.

It wasn’t the only time Luca showed his ability to generate incredible length and accuracy from either foot in the kicking game:

https://t.co/6koIxZ3Jr2

— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 6, 2026

https://t.co/VEKQ1kjHIf

— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 6, 2026

The dexterity of touching the boots was no problem either:

https://t.co/bOpa5qxY1U

— William Bishop (@RPvids1994) October 6, 2026

A superbly weighted chip from the left foot breathed new life into the burgundy attack, and the home side immediately scored a try in the ensuing 5-metre scramble.

France probably lost their home World Cup because they were too dependent on one man for their success. As stratospherically good as he is, even players of semi-divine status like Dupont need not only adequate replacements, but fierce rivals for his position in the starting XV. That rivalry has now materialized in the form of the late bloomer Lucu, and it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see rugby’s answer to Benjamin Button reclaim time in the Nations Championship once again.