Under-fire England face a seemingly impossible task against France – containing the ‘greatest of all-time’
Today at 08:21 AM
Rugby has witnessed a myriad of special players in its 200 year history.
This includes the likes of Jonah Lomu, Barry John, Gareth Edwards, Mike Gibson, Dan Carter, Jonny Wilkinson, Philippe Sella, Bryan Habana and Richie McCaw, but the greatest to ever play the game is Antoine Dupont, according to former Lions star Rob Kearney.
England have just two wins over Japan from their last eight internationals heaping pressure Borthwick and his misfiring team, and now they have to find a way of shackling the mercurial Dupont who has effortlessly switched from Olympic gold medal winning sevens star back to the 15-a-side game he dominates.
Dupont's latest masterclass was delivered in the 43-0 win over Wales, before his adoring fans at the Stade de France, becoming the first player in Six Nations history to produce a hat-trick of try assists in two separate matches (Four against Italy in 2021).
This performance built an even stronger case for Dupont to be labelled the best ever, and Kearney told Virgin TV: "Everyone knows [Dupont's] the greatest, certainly in my mind, he's the greatest player I've ever seen or played against.
"For me he's the greatest to ever play the game. You compare him to the likes of Jonah Lomu, Richie McCaw or Dan Carter – Lomu did change the game but that guy was 6ft 5, big and super fast.
“Dupont is the smallest guy on the field, and he's still able to have this enormous impact."
The former Irish international continued: "He's as strong as anyone, kicks off both feet, passes well, great rugby brain – there's no faults to his game, he can do everything and he does it week in week out, every single time."
After England's disappointing second half display in Dublin, which saw them concede 22 unanswered points in the 27-22 defeat to Ireland, England and Leicester Tigers' Ollie Chessum was asked how they plan to stop Dupont this weekend.
Chessum answered: "I don't know, if I had the answers then I'd be one of the best paid coaches in the world. I suppose we've just got to treat it for what he is.
"He's an excellent player, but we've got excellent players in our team as well. We'll bring our threats, I'm sure he'll bring what he brings and we'll see what happens on the weekend"
Dupont is consistently delivering the kind of game changing moments that England have been asking Marcus Smith to offer, and now the Harlequins fly half comes up against the ultimate impact player in the irrepressible French No. 9 who could move into the fly half role on Saturday when Racing 92 scrum half Nolann Le Garrec enters the contest.
If England are to match Dupont's magic they will look to Smith to provide the spark of inspiration even in the No. 15 shirt.
Smith has turned Harlequins into a team to be feared with an attacking game that can conjure up tries from any range.
A foot injury sustained against Ireland has removed Quins wing Cadan Murley from the team and it means Smith has to operate with players from other clubs who have not learnt to be constantly aware of the need to support his instinctive runs.
The French team knows that anything is possible when Dupont has the ball, and their mindset is fundamentally different to England under Steve Borthwick, who is more comfortable with a structured approach to attack.
France kick the ball as much as any international team which offers Smith counter attacking opportunities, however, that could also lead to the Harlequins star heading down blind alleys unless his team mates are equally switched on.
England will have to produce their best performance since the 23-22 win over Ireland in last year’s Six Nations, or Dupont, a player referred to as 'The Martian' by his French teammates, will run riot at Allianz Twickenham on Saturday.
