England scrum half Alex Mitchell reveals what it's like to play against Antoine Dupont
02/15/2025 02:00 PM
After the narrow win against France last weekend in the Six Nations, England and Northampton Saints scrum-half Alex Mitchell spoke about his experience against arguably the best player in the world.
Toulouse scrum-half Antoine Dupont is considered by many to be the best there is, and with Mitchell coming directly up against him, there was no better person to offer an insight into what he is like on the pitch.
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Mitchell said: "I’ve got huge respect for him. He’s obviously one of the best players in the world, isn’t he? He doesn’t need to talk too much on the field. A lot of the quality players just go about their business and are so good at it. It was quality to play against someone like that. I managed to get his top after the game, which I was pretty buzzing with.
"It’s fantastic to play against someone like that and try and learn off him. It was a really good day. Some of the scrum-halves are so chirpy and some lads are really quiet, but he was a lot more just, yeah, does his own job and does it in a very good way. So, yeah, it was good to see him."
Being able to come up against the best in the world comes with opportunities to learn directly from them, Mitchell spoke about what he learnt:
"I think just from the game, he just tries to get involved with everything. If you watch him, whether it’s attack or defence, he just wants to be on the ball. Defence, he wants to make an impact. He’s willing to put his head everywhere and he always wants to be involved because he’s so good.
"To kind of see that and admire that is class to see. Everything good with France is normally involved around him, so it’s good to see that on the pitch."
At Test level, every player has unbelievable amounts of quality in their locker, but against the best of the best it still brings a different dynamic. When asked about whether he changed his game at all to adapt to Dupont, he said:
"Probably a tiny bit. I think when you’re playing and you’re trying to focus on your own job, get your team to tick. I’m not watching him going, oh, he’s done that well, I’m going to try and bring that into my game. You obviously pick up little things in the game, but I think in the game you’re more in the moment and try and just take it minute by minute and don’t try and overthink it."
Reflecting on the result, which came after a run of results in which England have been close to victory but fell at the final hurdle, the Saints scrum-half spoke about how much of a relief it was:
"I think it was needed, wasn’t it? I think the last five, six games we’ve come really close. We’ve just not gotten the right side of a result and we’ve finally done that. I mean, against France as well, a quality opposition, top two, three in the world.
"So, yeah, we found a way and I think that’s going to be huge for our confidence. We need that going forward. I mean, we know we’re a quality side, but you need results at the end of the day, that’s the business, so we’re really happy."
With next opponents Scotland having the better of England over the past few years, Mitchell talked about whether there is any kind of mentality issues going into a game that has proved difficult recently:
"I think we’ve got a different squad, different game plans, they’ve got a different squad, so every year is so different in every Six Nations. I wouldn’t say there’s a monkey on our back at all, obviously we need to respect their quality opposition, with quality individuals, but we just need to look after our game plan, our performance, and hopefully we’ll get a result.
"Personally, I can’t wait. We’re hurting the last four years. It’s not nice to lose that many on the bounce. Hopefully we can bounce back, but it’s going to be an exciting game."
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