Cardiff, United Kingdom: France plays Wales in a Six Nations Test match in Cardiff on Friday on the back of their best winning streak since 2006 (six) in search of a first title since 2010.
Unbeaten in the championship after the opening three games, the French are seeking a win over the Welsh to set up a potential Grand Slam game against England on March 19.
AFP Sports looks at three key head-to-heads going into the Test at the Principality Stadium:
Dupont/Ntamack v Tomos Williams/Biggar
Antoine Dupont has become an emblematic figure in French rugby.
The scrumhalf skippers the side and has been pivotal to its success. A hard-hitting busybody in defense, the Toulouse player has also shone in heads-up attacking rugby alongside club teammate Romain Ntamack. “Dupont has a huge influence,” Dan Biggar says.
“His partnership with Ntamack has flourished and they’re in good form. They’re going to be huge danger men.”
Biggar has stepped into the Wales captaincy boots left empty by the injury to Alun Wyn Jones. The fly-half has thrived since moving out of Wales to ply his club trade at Northampton, silencing the numerous critics who have routinely taken umbrage at what they see as a style of play too defensive for a country famed in the 1970s for its mythical “fly-half factory”.
Biggar has linked up well with Tomos Williams, who has proved a real livewire at scrum-half, but will have his hands well and truly full dealing with Dupont.