"Antoine was quality, wasn't he?" – England's Alex Mitchell admires scrum half rival Dupont ahead of Six Nations clash
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England scrum half Alex Mitchell is ready to go toe-to-toe with arguably the best player in the world this Saturday, as France head to the Allianz Stadium for the second round of the 2025 Men’s Guinness Six Nations. Mitchell will take on Antoine Dupont should the Northampton man be picked in the nine shirt, with the England halfback impressed from Dupont’s efforts from the opening round.
Dupont led France from the front, as the barnstorming French machine made light work of Wales in the first match of the tournament. Fabien Galthie’s men cruised to a 43-0 win over Wales, much to the delight of the partisan Parisian crowd that packed out the Stade de France. Dupont starred for France in the one-way win, and Mitchell will be trying to pick up on some of the Frenchman’s flair ahead of their incoming meeting at Twickenham.
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“Antoine was quality, wasn’t he? I mean, he always is. Just how he always looks for space, always feels like he’s got so much time on the ball. And the players, the runners off him are just fantastic. I always try and learn off players like that. And he was quality.”
“Obviously, we (England) know he’s a quality player, so we obviously need to talk him up and we know what he brings. So we’ll be alive for him. But you don’t overthink it. You don’t want to just try and focus on one player. They’ve got a quality team throughout. So it’s one of them you’ve got to deal with. And yeah, anything I can pick up with the players, I obviously will.”
Whilst the scrum half spotlight is frequently shone upon Dupont, Mitchell moved the focus to hand some praise to Ireland’s Jamison Gibson-Park after a grueling battle in Dublin. The Leinster scrum half was in fine form in his side’s first round win over England, with his finest contribution being his second half try.
“He was quality, wasn’t he? Again, similar to Dupont, always finds himself in the middle of the action and he has so much time on the ball. So, he was quality today. He always finds himself on them cheat lines to get on the end of tries. He’s got his qualities. You’ve got to admire that.”
Mitchell reflected on the opening round defeat to Ireland, and called the five point loss a ‘frustrating one’, much to echo the thoughts of his fullback Freddie Steward. Having battled to take a 10-5 lead into the half time break, there was plenty of hope behind England to emulate their 2019 triumph in Dublin. However, a capitulation midway through the second half and England succumbed to Ireland’s full force, as Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and Dan Sheehan powered over for three unanswered tries.
“I mean, it’s Six Nations, everyone’s quality. Everyone can beat everyone. So, whatever you can get out of any game is huge. Hopefully, we’re going to front up next week and get a result. Really push for the title.”
“Obviously, we’re hurting today, but it’s always the best thing about the Six Nations. We get to go again against a quality opposition and show what we can actually do. So, yeah, I think it’s going to be an exciting week for us, especially going back home at Twickenham. It’s going to be huge. So personally, I can’t wait.”
Despite coming away on the losing side of the score-line, Mitchell took confidence in his side in how England closed out the match. His teammates battled through to the final whistle, as Tom Curry and Tommy Freeman scored consolation tries to make the score-board all the more respectable.
“Obviously it’s a frustrating one.” Mitchell continued. “We had a good 40 minutes, playing the right areas, put them under a lot of pressure. And that second half just fell off a bit. I think our ill-discipline at times. We lost the kick battle in that third quarter. And yeah, it just fell off a bit. I think the last 20 minutes of the fight to get back into the game and get a bonus point away in Dublin is massive for us. So, yeah, not too happy, but we got a point.”
“We’re still as a team evolving and getting to be one of the best. But it’s Test match rugby, so little mistakes, little errors. The discipline walks them down the field and lets them into our 22. And obviously they are a top side playing at home. It’s going to be tough. So, yeah, they pulled away. It’s obviously tough to come back. There was a lot of fight in this team.”
The bonus point away to Ireland has been chalked up as a silver lining for England, which could well come round to benefit them should Ireland or France drop key points throughout the tournament. Whilst Mitchell did not hide behind the fact that his side was eager for the victory to kick-start the tournament, a losing bonus point is an albeit acceptable second-best outcome from the Irish capital.
“Obviously, you want to get all the points you can. We wanted to get the victory today, but we didn’t. We came out with a bonus point, which is huge for us. Obviously, playing a quality island side. So, yeah, I think we’re not pleased, but it’s something to get out of the game.”
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