All Blacks plan to nullify 'freak' Dupont

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All Blacks centre Anton Lienert-Brown described France scrumhalf Antoine Dupont as a “freakish player” ahead of the clash in Paris on Saturday.

Olympic sevens champion Dupont, who turns 28 on Friday, returned to Les Bleus’ 15-a-side team for the first time in more than a year in last weekend’s win over Japan.

The scrumhalf provided two assists having also starred in his first club game in October, scoring a nine-minute hat-trick.

“He’s one of the faces of rugby around the world and just someone that performs week in and week out,” Lienert-Brown told AFP from New Zealand’s team hotel in the French capital.

“A freakish player but if we can dominate collisions, then Antoine Dupont won’t have as much time on the ball.

“If you can nullify his influence on the game, it goes a long way to getting the result you want,” the 29-year-old added.

The All Blacks head to the Stade de France on a high having beaten Japan, England and Ireland over the past month.

The victories have silenced the doubters after Scott Robertson started his tenure as coach with an unconvincing June series and Rugby Championship campaign.

“All throughout this year we feel like we’re building, been building as a team,” Lienert-Brown said.

“The reality is in high performance sport, and when you’re playing for the All Blacks, you’ve got to win and you expect to win.

“Even though we were finding our feet as a team, we still expected to win those games and we’re not making an excuse for the time it’s taken for us to gel together

“Ireland last week was probably the best Test we’ve played all year,” he added.

Lienert-Brown is the fourth most-capped player in Robertson’s matchday squad.

The physical Chiefs midfielder made the first of his 82 Test appearances in 2016 but has started just four of Robertson’s 12 games in charge this year.

Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane have been preferred to Lienert-Brown by Robertson to face Les Bleus.

“When you first come in here, it’s hugely exciting. You get to just play rugby and it’s fun,” Lienert-Brown said.

“Then you get to a certain stage in your career where you’ve had a few tests and I guess the expectation is to start leading in areas.

“The special thing about rugby and in this environment and all the professional environments is if you’re not a hardworking, good person, you probably won’t be around for long,” he added.

Lienert-Brown could come up against the equally-experienced Gael Fickou in France’s midfield if he gets off the replacements bench.

“I think he’s a world class centre,” Lienert-Brown said of the 91-time capped Fickou.

“He’s a big man, solid on attack. I know he’s hugely influential in the defensive system.

“When you look at previewing a team, you look at a player like Antoine Dupont and then Gael Fickou is another person you talk about,” he added.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Martin Bureau/AFP

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