Potential Antoine Dupont replacement ruled out of Six Nations

France head coach Fabien Galthie was dealt a blow in his quest to find a replacement for Antoine Dupont this upcoming Six Nations with Toulon announcing today that scrum-half Baptiste Serin will be out of action for a minimum of four months, ruling him out of the tournament.

The 29-year-old only lasted a matter of minutes of Toulon's agonising 19-18 loss to Exeter Chiefs at Stade Mayol on Saturday in the Investec Champions Cup after coming on as a second-half substitute. He left the field with his right arm in a sling and the three time European champions have since confirmed that he dislocated his shoulder and will undergo surgery next week.

Toulon posted on social media: "Injured last Saturday, [Baptiste Serin] will have surgery for a dislocated shoulder next week.

"He will be absent for a minimum period of 4 months following this operation."

With France captain Dupont having already confirmed that he will miss the Six Nations as he attempts to make the move to rugby sevens in order to represent France at the Paris Olympic Games next year, there has been a battle to see who will wear the blue No9 jersey. Though Bordeaux-Begles' Maxime Lucu is the frontrunner to step up, as he was at the World Cup, Serin was in contention too. Galthie will be starting to grow a little concerned that his scrum-half reserves are beginning to run low.

In the short term, Toulon will be without the 44-cap scrum-half for the rest of the pool stages in their European campaign, starting with a visit to Franklin's Gardens on Friday to take on Northampton Saints. On top of that he will miss a visit from Munster and a trip to Scotland to face Glasgow Warriors in January, where Toulon now face an uphill battle having lost their opening fixture.