2023-09-07 07:54:07
The Blues have a world rugby star in their ranks, scrum half Antoine Dupont. This almost unstoppable player is both powerful and creative. It has taken on an exceptional dimension in recent years, off and on the pitch. To the point of becoming the undisputed captain of the France team.
Published on: 09/07/2023 – 07:54
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If the character of Superdupont had not been created 50 years ago in the pages of the comic book magazine Pilote, the name would have stuck perfectly to the captain of the XV of France of rugby. An extraordinary player whose journey is told in the comic strip “I’ll be rugbyman” (ed. Marabulles) recently published.
Aged only 26, the French scrum-half already has an exceptional record. He has won the French championship three times (in 2019, 2021 and 2023) and a Champions Cup (2023). He started in March 2017 in the France team, at only 20 years old, in the Six Nations Tournament. Since then, he has gleaned 49 selections with the Blues, scored 12 tries and won a Grand Slam in 2022. An impressive record which earned him the title of best player in the world awarded by World Rugby in 2021. Before him, only two French people had obtained this award, which has been awarded since 2001: the current coach of the Blues Fabien Galthié (2002) and Thierry Dusautoir (2011), former captain of the Blues.
Antoine Dupont was given the captaincy of the France team in November 2021, when he was only 24 years old. Naturally reserved, he is a leader of men by example, capable of both high-class defensive gestures and flashes in attack. A player with a strong character who, despite his modest size (1m74), loves combat and has forged a physique to be able to challenge the strongest.
French captain Antoine Dupont during a training session with the Blues on July 4, 2023 in Monaco. © Valery Hache, AFP
The gifted talent hatched very early. From his beginnings at the age of 6 at Magnoac FC (MFC), a club in the Hautes-Pyrénées. He surprised his coaches with his determination and physical qualities. “He was always one step ahead”, confides Sébastien Bonis, educator at Beaulieu high school in Auch, with a rugby section, in the documentary “Dupont, naturally” broadcast on Canal + on the occasion of the Coupe du world.
Terroir, fashion and music
Recruited in 2014 by the Castres club, he was not yet of age when he was established for the first time with the professional team. His mother is even obliged to sign a waiver to allow him to play. “We could see that he was different. He was a player who understood things very quickly. He could change an action or a match on his own,” recalls Rodrigo Capo Ortega, who was then his captain of Castres Olympique. He happens to meet him and affirms that he has not changed, always displaying the same simplicity despite his status as a world star of rugby.
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After three seasons in the Tarn, Antoine Dupont is one of the most coveted players in the championship. In 2017, he opted for Stade Toulousain, the club that made him dream when he was younger, reconciling rugby with studies in sports management. It takes little time for this nugget to find its marks in the most successful club in France, which is then emerging from a delicate period. Antoine Dupont marks the spirits with his power and his devastating hooks. Until a serious knee injury interrupted his progress in February 2018. Eight months later, the elusive scrum-half returned to the pitch by signing three tries against Perpignan.
If his fame and popularity continue to grow, Antoine Dupont does not forget his Gascon roots. He remains very attached to the village of Castelnau-Magnoac, where he discovered the ball during his young years with his brother, his cousins and his friends. He thus contributed to his being selected as the starting village of the Tour de France in 2022. He returns there frequently and is even entitled to a special day every year, called “Dupont Day”, which brings together several hundred guests. It is organized by the MFC, which thus finances a good part of its budget.
“Toto” at the Grévin museum
However, the horizon of this lover of the rural world is not limited to his native lands. A lover of music and fashion, he shows curiosity and does not hesitate to leave the traditional sphere of rugby. Like when he poses in a yellow bathrobe for the cover of GQ magazine or while participating in photo shoots dressed in haute couture pieces. He has a collection in his name created by the Ami brand. He appears in programs far from rugby, participates in the Enfoirés 2022 campaign and does not hesitate to make appearances on stage with his rapper friends Bigflo and Oli.
Ambassador of French rugby, Antoine Dupont becomes the muse of various brands and notably takes over from Zidane in an advertisement for Volvic. He also lent his voice to the SNCF, which entrusted him with announcements for the World Cup. “Whether you are a player, a supporter or a simple traveler, I wish you very good times in our stations which will vibrate to the rhythm of the competition”, declares the captain of the Blues in a message. An emblematic player who also entered the Grévin museum last May.
His wax statue is missing a replica of the Webb Ellis Cup, given to the winner of the World Cup. Antoine Dupont dreams of winning it with his teammates from the XV of France. It would thus enter the history of French rugby since the Blues have never won it yet. The scrum half – voted best player of the Six Nations Tournament in 2020, 2022 and 2023 – is one of the most formidable weapons of the French selection. “It’s dynamite”, explains Serge Blanco, legendary rear of the Blues, in the Canal + documentary. And to add: “We expect that at some point, he is able to take a ball and then create an exploit.”
His explosive qualities are well known to his opponents, who try to muzzle him at each encounter, often in vain. Antoine Dupont will be closely watched by the great nations of this sport, starting with the All Blacks that the Blues will face on September 8 at the Stade de France. Despite everything, he will try to make his rugby genius speak in the service of the tricolor collective, by showing the way to a much-awaited French team on the occasion of this World Cup. In the wake of the one his teammates nicknamed “Toto”, the Blues hope to play a bad joke on the other favorites in this competition.
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