Is the great Antoine Dupont and his team coming to Australia? This masthead understands that France, Ireland and Italy will be the three nations bound for Australia next July, if and when the long-awaited Nations Cup gets off the ground next year.

Despite the urgings of World Rugby chair Brett Robinson for the Rugby Championship and Six Nations not to stuff it up, the Nations Cup still isn’t over the line as parties haggle over details.

But schedules appear to be largely in place, with France, Ireland in Italy heading south next July and the Wallabies facing England, Scotland and Wales up north in the ‘return’ legs in November, 2026.

The French are well known for not sending their top players south in the July window and may well continue that policy, but next year’s Test comes with a twist. If the French want a dry run for the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027, this is it. They mightn’t necessarily care about the Nations Cup, but sending Dupont and co would make sense from a Rugby World Cup planning point of view. At least, Rugby Australia can hope. The Ireland Test will sell itself but the French avec Dupont would be a blockbuster.

RA director of high performance Peter Horne set the cat among the pigeons with his casual, “Yeah, well we never liked........

© Brisbane Times