Antoine Dupont has returned “better than ever” to the XV after winning Olympic gold in sevens in the summer, says French flanker Francois Cros.

Scrum-half Dupont, 27, has been named captain for France’s Autumn Nations Series opener against Japan on Saturday, in his first international XV match since his team’s devastating quarter-final defeat of the Rugby World Cup against South Africa last October.

After spending 2024 focusing on sevens, the former World Player of the Year set up a try and scored two himself as France beat Fiji 28-7 to win their first gold at the Paris Olympics in July.

“It was something incredible for him and for French rugby,” Cros said.

“Since he came back, after a good rest, he is better than before.

“So it’s obviously a pleasure to have him back.”

After a long layoff, Dupont returned last month and scored a hat-trick in 13 minutes off the bench for Toulouse in a 48-14 win over Clermont.

Despite missing this year’s Six Nations and France’s summer tour of Argentina to focus on learning the shortened format, he continued to play for his club Toulouse when possible, starring in his team’s Investec Champions Cup victory in May.

He will be joined by Toulouse team-mate Thomas Ramos, who starts at fly-half in place of regular number 10 Matthieu Jalibert, and Dupont will reclaim the captaincy from number eight Gregory Alldritt for the match against Eddie Jones’ side.

“It wasn’t even necessary to ask the question, it’s natural for us that he is the captain,” Cros said.

“Since he came back, his standards have been the same, if not better. There was no question about that.”