Freed Tiger: Julien Dupuy Photo: Michael Paler

Julien Dupuy received a double dose of good news today with confirmation that he will start for 'Les Bleus' against New Zealand, and that his transfer to Stade Francais has moved a step closer.

The Leicester Tigers scrum-half will cap a superb season on Saturday when he makes his international debut ahead of Dimitri Yachvili - who formerly kept him out of the Biarritz side before Dupuy moved to England.

Top 14 Table / Top 14 Fixtures / Top 14 Transfers - The story so far...

The switch to Leicester paid off handsomely with Dupuy, 25, asserting himself as the club's No 1 choice ahead of Harry Ellis as the season reached a tumultuous climax. Dupuy started both the Guinness Premiership final - which Leicester won against London Irish - and the Heineken Cup final - which they lost to Leinster.

Now he has been picked by Marc Lièvremont to face the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday - about as tough a job as there is in international rugby - with Yachvili sitting on the substitutes' bench.

As if that wasn't enough, Dupuy's protracted transfer to Stade Francais has moved on apace in the last 48 hours with the French side doubling their initial offer of €100,000 for the player, and Leicester now on the brink of signing a replacement.

Tigers' coach Richard Cockerill admitted the deal - prompted by Dupuy's girlfriend being unable to settle in England - was now nearing completion. "I'd like to keep him, but he wants to go and they will pay a significant amount of money," he told BBC Radio Leicester.

"We have a replacement lined up and we'll see if that comes through, but the jigsaw's got to fall into place. The player who comes in may be more experienced and help bring Ben [Youngs] through and help mentor Harry [Ellis] in a positive way too," added Cockerill.

Leinster's former Australian scrum-half Chris Whitaker is believed to be the player Cockerill has lined up, with the 34-year-old appearing to tick all the boxes required by the Tigers' boss.

Dupuy's presence in the French starting XV against New Zealand confirms the player's stellar rise this season, and he will now try and form a working half-back combination with Montpellier's Francois Trinh-Duc.

The team will be captained by Stade Toulousain's Thierry Dusautoir, with no place in the starting line-up for either Sebastien Chabal or Yannick Jauzion.

France XV: Maxime Medard, Cedric Heymans, Mathieu Bastareaud, Damien Traille, Vincent Clerc, Francois Trinh-Duc, Julien Dupuy, Louis Picamoles, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Thierry Dusautoir (capt), Romain Millo-Chluski, Pascal Pape, Sylvain Marconnet, William Servat, Fabien Barcella.
Subs (two be omitted): Dimitri Szarzewski, Nicolas Mas, Thomas Domingo, Sebastien Chabal, Remy Martin, Julien Puricelli, Dimitri Yachvili, Yannick Jauzion, Alexis Palisson.

Elsewhere, Top 14 new boys Racing-Metro 92 have confirmed their third major signing since securing promotion from ProD2, with Springbok Francois Steyn agreeing to a three-year deal.

Steyn, who can play at fly-half or in the centres, joins Chabal and regular France captain Lionel Nallet in moving to the Paris club, but said the switch didn't necessarily signal the end of his international ambitions.

The vastly talented South African - who became the youngest ever World Cup winner in 2007, at 19 - has been pursued by Racing for months and has now agreed a deal which will see him fly in to France following the Springboks' three-Test series with the British and Irish Lions.

"After the 2007 World Cup I always told myself that I'd come to play in France," he told L'Equipe. "I remember walking around Paris looking at the magnificent streets packed with history, drinking coffee and eating chocolate and banana crepes - maybe too much," he admitted.

The Sharks star also hopes that his move to Paris won't jeopardise his international future. "South Africa has a policy that foreign-based players can play for the national side. I haven't given up on representing my country as the next World Cup. I hope that the Springboks will be the first in history to retain their crown," he added.

Steyn also said he was relishing the change of climate and culture as he seeks to broaden his horizons as both a player and a person. "I hope my stay in France will teach me to adopt a new approach to matches and make me stronger mentally. But it will be a huge challenge to learn a new language, to live far from my family. to live through a European winter."