Tickets to watch France play England this weekend are not cheap. Premium adult seats cost £199 apiece and even the most affordable ones up in the gods will set you back £89. Before you phone the Rugby Football Union to enquire if an England win is included as part of the deal, however, ask yourself how often in life you have the chance to witness pure genius.
Admittedly this can be a subjective debate. Taylor Swift fans will have a different opinion to, say, Bob Dylan disciples. However, in contemporary sport there can surely be increasingly little debate. With all due respect to the colossal talents of Novak Djokovic, Max Verstappen, Patrick Mahomes, Simone Biles and Mohamed Salah, the name Antoine Dupont must be close to the top of the list.
Related: England insist Dupont is ‘human’ but admit stopping him is a conundrum
Perhaps only Biles, a mere four months younger than Dupont, can rival France’s scrum-half for multifaceted, all-round brilliance. But in gymnastics there are no hulking forwards constantly trying to smash you into next week. Dupont can kick with both feet, he can run and offload, he can tackle like a youthful bull, he can see space like no one else can and, by way of an added bonus, he is captain of his national team as well. The word genius, in this case, really does apply.
Last Friday night against Wales he ended up being substituted after just 49 minutes, essentially because he was too good. Three try assists against moderate opposition might not sound much in isolation but the wider message it sent out was unmistakable. With the game already won, let’s keep “Tony Bridge” nice and fresh for Twickenham. Watch out England, we’re coming for you.
The lofty title being used on Irish television was “the Messi of rugby”. Even seen-it-all former pros such as the Ireland and British & Irish Lions full-back Rob Kearney were unequivocal.
“For me, he’s the greatest to ever play the game,” Kearney said. “Dupont’s the smallest guy on the field and he’s still able to have this enormous impact. He’s as strong as anyone, kicks off both feet, passes well, great rugby brain. There are no faults to his game. He can do everything and he does it week in, week out, every single time.”
Furthermore – and this really should send a shiver down the spines of all France’s future opponents – it appears he is still improving.
His Olympic gold medal‑winning stint playing sevens for France last year has made him more effective around the rucks – witness his four turnovers in the Champions Cup final last season – and sharpened his radar when it comes to spotting and exploiting defensive gaps.
To watch him first hand when Toulouse thrashed Exeter before Christmas was also to appreciate the positive influence he has on those around him. Toulouse racked up 64 points and Dupont, either picking devastating inside lines or finishing tries himself, was the dynamo who made it all tick. Another former Ireland international, Shane Horgan, who played for years alongside the outstanding Brian O’Driscoll, is another huge fan. “He’s got all the constituent parts of everything you’d want in a brilliant rugby player,” he said. “He’s almost the perfect player.”
Which prompts a few questions, the first being whether England or anyone else will be able to subdue France’s shining comet during this Six Nations campaign? “The boys joke around and call him ‘The Martian’, like he’s not from Earth, he’s an alien,” Toulouse’s international forward Emmanuel Meafou said last year. “He does some stuff at training where you can’t do anything but shake your head and just wish you could do that, too. He’s also a real humble guy.”
How the whole of France would love to rewind the clock to the fateful 2023 World Cup pool game against Namibia when Dupont, with his side already miles ahead, sustained a fractured cheekbone following a head-on tackle by Johan Deysel. Would Les Bleus have lifted the Webb Ellis Cup had he stayed fully fit? No one will ever know but his side, as a bare minimum, would have been appreciably harder to beat.
Which begs another wider thought: might Dupont just be the greatest player to tread the turf at Twickenham?
England have had their oval-ball favourites but never a scrum‑half of such magisterial talent nor a playmaking catalyst in the same class. And when red‑rose supporters think of the greatest cockerel‑strutting French teams seen in south-west London not even their influential No 9s – Jacques Fouroux, Jérôme Gallion, Pierre Berbizier or Fabien Galthié – would be leapfrogging the 28-year-old from Castelnau-Magnoac, a village not far from the Spanish border.
Which leaves those Mount Rushmore legends from New Zealand: Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw, Michael Jones and Dan Carter. Or Australia’s David Campese and France’s Serge Blanco, instigator of that ultimate team try scored by Philippe Saint-André for France against England in 1991. Or Barry John, Mike Gibson and Jackie Kyle, all of whom illuminated Twickenham years ago.
Not forgetting, of course, Wales’s Gareth Edwards, hailed widely as the greatest rugby player, male or female, of the past half-century. Rewatch his all-time classic try for the Barbarians against the All Blacks in 1973 and listen to Cliff Morgan’s lyrical commentary – “Oh that fellow Edwards … what can touch a man like that?” – and it seems inconceivable the great scrum-half could ever be nudged into second place.
Maybe, though, that moment is finally arriving. “It’s taken 50 years to be compared with somebody,” Edwards said last year when asked if he saw something of himself in his modern-day rival. This Saturday could just be the day Dupont assumes his mantle as the undisputed GOAT. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket, keep it safe.
Bunker drama
So when is a red not quite a red. Or a yellow. Answer: when it’s a 20-minute red. If you were watching the Ireland v England Under-20s game on Thursday night or the France v Wales game the following evening you may, however, have spotted a grey area. Junior Kpoku’s shoulder to the head of Ireland’s Eoghan Smyth was about as clear and obvious as they come. So was Romain Ntamack’s hit on Ben Thomas in Paris. Both would have been straight red cards last year. Now such decisions are sent for review: both were duly upgraded to red but England were subsequently able to replace Kpoku with a teammate after 20 minutes. The same would have applied in Ntamack’s case had the match not already entered the final quarter. None of it felt quite right. And aside from the mixed messages they send about rugby’s determination to outlaw head-high collisions, the protocols still feel overly confusing. As the Breakdown has previously suggested, why not issue referees with a new orange card to make it simpler for fans to differentiate between a dangerous tackle and a technical offence? Only orange cards can potentially be upgraded to red, leaving yellows for less serious offences. And then, when decisions are referred to the “bunker”, why not make the process more audience friendly? Here’s one suggestion: three faceless officials clad in Traitors-style hooded cloaks on the big screen, either simultaneously brandishing cards or tossing red or yellow crystals into a fire. A majority “guilty” verdict and the player concerned will be shown a red card. Predominantly yellow and he or she will only be off for 10 minutes. Sponsors and advertisers would absolutely love it. You’re welcome.
One to watch
There are two absolutely pivotal fixtures in this season’s Six Nations and both of them involve Ireland. Their home game against France will be a showdown between the two strongest squads in the tournament but, prior to that, Caelan Doris’s side have to go to Murrayfield this Sunday. Scotland have defeated their opponents just once since 2013 and, if they really want to be contenders, now is the time to buck that sorry trend. The weather forecast for Edinburgh this weekend looks cold and clear but the rugby should be red hot.
Memory lane
As Wales head to Rome desperately in need of a win on Saturday, on the plus side they have only lost four times in 33 matches against the Azzurri and the last time they lost in Italy was in 2007. However, their first defeat in Rome came four years before that; at the start of their previous record losing run – which peaked at 10 under Steve Hansen just before the 2003 World Cup. In the Six Nations earlier that year, a dominant Italian pack paved the way for a soul-destroying defeat for the Welsh; Diego Domínguez orchestrating proceedings from fly-half as the visitors never quite felt they could exert a grip back on the match. A loose scrum, a poacher’s steal and a stroll under the posts put Italy 27-17 up and a Domínguez drop-goal sealed Wales’s fate and the hosts’ first Six Nations win since their opening game in 2000. It finished 30-22 and Wales will hope for no repeats this weekend.
Still want more?
Robert Kitson sees the warning lights already flashing for England and Wales.
Inexperience isn’t the excuse Borthwick thinks it is, writes Gerard Meagher.
Michael Aylwin reports from Edinburgh where Scottish flair overcame stubborn Italy.
Raphaël Jucobin on the joyous return of the French ‘half-back hinge’.
Even Warren Gatland didn’t seem convinced by his own arguments, writes Andy Bull.
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