‘No awkardness’ for Dupont’s France with Jegou, Auradou selection

PARIS — France captain Antoine Dupont said on Thursday the inclusion of Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou in the team to face Wales in this week’s Six Nations opener has had no impact on the squad.

Flanker Jegou and lock Auradou were investigated over rape claims last year before they were dismissed and have been named on the bench for Friday’s game in Paris where they will make first Test appearances since the incident.

The case in Argentina against the 21-year-old forwards was dropped in December, but the complainant’s lawyer has appealed with a hearing set for February 10-11.

“I haven’t felt any type of awkwardness this week or last week,” Dupont told reporters.”We’ve stayed focused on our objective of this first match with all it signifies for the rest of the competition.

We’ve focused on ourselves, our game and that has been enough to take up our time and energy,” the scrum-half added.

Dupont’s side are looking to deny champions Ireland a record third straight Six Nations title but face a trip to Dublin during a run of three consecutive games on the road.