Antoine Dupont: French maestro has improved even more from golden Olympic Sevens break

01/30/2025 10:26 AM

The expectation continues to grow from the French rugby faithful, with plenty backing Les Bleus to win their first Six Nations title since 2022. Fabien Galthie’s side have been bolstered by the return of their enigmatic leader Antoine Dupont, and the scrum half is out to lead his side to glory in the upcoming competition.

As arguably the best player in the world, success seems to come naturally to the magician of the French back-line. Dupont won the Champions Cup and Top 14 double with Stade Toulousain last season, before enjoying a successful switch to sevens, as he led France to their first gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Despite picking up the World Rugby Men’s Sevens Player of the Year award for 2024, Dupont once again has his full focus back on the 15s game.

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The scrum half has taken plenty of learnings back from his break in the Olympic set-up, and expressed how he has only improved his game in certain areas ahead of the 2025 Six Nations. Dupont spoke to the media at the official tournament launch event in Rome, about how he is now even stronger at the breakdown and much quicker around the park.

“Probably (improved) in the ruck area, because I didn’t work on it before. Sevens, you have to be good in every rugby area. So I have to work on it, my speed as well. I’ve made a specific preparation to be ready for the sevens with longer runs, which I didn’t work on it before. Even outside the field on the approach of the game, of the competition, of the performance. It was completely different in the sevens world and it learned me a lot as well.

“Honestly, I’m lucky, because I have a lot of freedom on the field. We have a structure, obviously, but I can play free. And for me, I try to find some space everywhere on the field, if it’s close to the ruck, if it’s wide, if it’s a cross kick, I always find or try to find a solution in the defense. And I love to play like that. If I think too much, it’s not my my game. So I have to feel it and to take some risks, maybe too much. So I have to find the balance.”

France begin their Six Nations campaign tomorrow evening, as they host Wales at the Stade de France with a partisan Parisan crowd expected in attendance.

“I now have a lot of memories in this stadium. And every time you sing La Marseillaise, it’s always a lot of emotions, a lot of pride as well. And we can try to go back in Stade de France in a few days.”

Round two sees France return to Twickenham, for their clash with England at the Allianz Stadium. Dupont’s last visit to the home of English Rugby brought about England’s heaviest ever home defeat, as Les Bleus ran rampant for a 53-10 battering in the 2023 Six Nations. Whilst Dupont admitted that the win was a special one, the victory did little to help his side in take the Six Nations trophy of Ireland.

“It was a incredible memory for us. It was a huge victory, but it came too late in the tournament. It was after a loss in Dublin, so it was a big victory, but the result of the tournament was not that good. So I think, I hope, we’ll start the best way that we can.”

“I think the main objective, obviously, for the French team is the next World Cup. And if we want to be good in 2027 we have to prepare now. We have to to work harder from now, it will come very, very quickly. So I have to focus on my current objective, the six nations, the champions cup and the Top 14 obviously, with the vision of the 2027 but stuff now.”

Dupont is often considered the benchmark for attacking-minded rugby players, with many scrum halves taking notes from the French maestro as they look to improve their performances. The number nine was asked whether there are specific players he watches as the standard bearer for international halfbacks, with Dupont expressing that he’s always on the look out for different elements to add to his game.

“It could be every every game, every player, when I watch the game, I can take something from (them). It could be from a flanker, fly half for fullback. There is a lot of good player on the planet. So there is no player in particular, but not specifically in the scrum, it’s all the players.”

Whilst not a direct positional rival from a scrum half perspective, Dupont opened up on how he continues to be impressed by a certain Scotland star. Blair Kinghorn has been making waves with Toulouse, since the fullback arrived in the Top 14 from Edinburgh in 2023, but Dupont had been impressed by the flyer as far back as an U20s altercation.

“It’s a pleasure to play with him, to be with him outside the field as well. Very, very nice guy. I think he loves to live in Toulouse as well, and I discovered him on the field when I played against him, I saw him at under 20s (in 2016). But I didn’t know him very well, and I was very surprised about his skillness level, his physicality, he’s tall and strong, he’s fast, he has a very good pass, very good skill, and I think the last two games was very good (for Toulouse), and I think he has the potential to be a world class player.”

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