France revel in fleeting return of near-telepathic Dupont-Ntamack pairing

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Wales could not cope with half-back partnership as Romain Ntamack made good on injury comeback before seeing red

Dominating the buildup to France's Six Nations opener was the imminent return of its gilded charnière – the "hinge", a term used for the half-back partnership – after nearly a year and a half apart. With Les Bleus, Antoine Dupont had last played alongside Romain Ntamack in the ill-fated World Cup warm-up against Scotland when the latter suffered a ruptured cruciate ligament that sidelined him for eight months.

While the captain had already retuned from his Olympic exploits in the autumn, there was a sense that the Toulouse pair could finally elevate France back to the heights of the 2022 Grand Slam. That year, they had already established themselves as the most-used partnership in the history of the XV de France.