Set off on foot around Paris at this time of year and you should soon stumble upon an advert with Antoine Dupont promoting something: crypto currency, water, yoghurt, skincare, cars.
L’Equipe’s weekly magazine two weeks ago featured him on the front cover, sitting on a television, ready to command the attention of a nation again. "Bleu Roi" read the headline and listening to the people, it does indeed feel as though the blue king had returned. Was it a better front cover than the GQ issue from four years ago, with Dupont in a fluffy yellow dressing gown looking like the world’s muscliest duckling? Of course not. Not bad, though.
Ten months after his last appearance in a France shirt, facing the same opponent in Ireland, Dupont was back. Last year, he tore his ACL for a second time in Dublin, the same knee as in 2018. Fear not, he does not appear to have slowed down.
Here are some of the accolades thrown Dupont’s way during the recent Six Nations launch by rival coaches and captains, starting with Ireland’s Andy Farrell: “Everyone says Antoine is the best player in the world today, and we agree.” The England vice-captain Jamie George billed Dupont as “the best players of his generation”. Scotland’s Gregor Townsend described him as “one of the best tacklers in the world”, before adding: “He’s great to watch, but playing against him is a nightmare.”
The best response probably belonged to Caelan Doris, the Ireland captain, likening Dupont to “one of those little fish you try to catch that immediately escape. We have to defend against him with two or three players.”
Thursday night was not necessarily Dupont’s best game for France, but then again, it didn’t need to be. They were so comfortable against a muted Ireland side, who outside of a kicking battle they failed to win had nothing to threaten France with, that even when France lost momentum with the mass arrival of their bench before the 50-minute mark when leading 29-0, it didn’t matter.
Still, there were flashes of the usual Dupont greatness. A long clearance to touch off his ‘wrong’ foot – technically his left, but watching him you would never know it – looked simple. There was a tackle and rip on his counterpart Jamison Gibson-Park, snatching back possession, a reminder of his defensive prowess. His little chip over the top of the Irish defence, hacked on Thomas Ramos, created the rapid Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s second try to make it 29-0, ensuring that even if there was a modicum of hope for Ireland going into that second half it was soon snuffed out.
Important contributions, certainly, but Dupont on this occasion was not France’s match-winner. That was Mickaël Guillard, the athletic second-row who Ireland could not contain. Guillard was replaced on 49 minutes and still finished the game as the top carrier with 16. There was also Matthieu Jalibert, in the form of his career, threading tactical kicks into gaps in the Irish defence, passing too late for the defence to react. Jean-Baptiste Gros, the loosehead prop, and François Cros, the openside flanker, were excellent. Nicolas Depoortère at outside centre was so physical he looked like an adult playing among children.
The point being, this was a team triumph. It did not rest all on Dupont’s shoulders but he still played his part, and that should be immensely satisfying for Galthié. “It was one of our most precise attacking performances in a long time,” the coach said afterwards, accurately.
Olivier Magne, the former France flanker who now works as TV pundit, highlighted before kickoff the importance of Dupont’s return not just for the team, but for rugby in France as a whole, with ‘Toto’ (his nickname) cutting through beyond rugby to a national audience.
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“Everybody is waiting for Antoine, not only as a player but as a leader as well. We need a player like him to influence the team, the match, outside the match. For the people who don’t know the game very well, to see Antoine Dupont on TV at nine o’clock in the evening, it is a good promotion for rugby,” he told The Observer.
The partnership with Jalibert is a change from Dupont’s usual, and highly successful, combination with Romain Ntamack, the Toulouse No 10 currently out injured. With Dupont and Jalibert used to running their respective club sides, Magne proposed a solution.
“They will have to find a balance between the two players. For Antoine when the game has momentum, maybe to give it over to Matthieu, and when it is more complicated, for Antoine to take the responsibility.”
There were glimpses of that on Thursday night, with France rampant and Dupont letting Jalibert run the show. Dupont notably kicked 18 times out of France’s total of 39, offering control. The scything support lines? Those will be back. There was still one flicked pass behind his back. A little flair teaser.
“Sometimes it is not easy for people to come back from two injuries to the same knee. But he is so focused, so passionate,” Magne continues, admiring Dupont’s recovery. “He did everything to come back, his best to come back and be available. I think he will be better for the next few years. Hopefully we will win this tournament and the World Cup.”
One final anecdote to attempt to convey the scale of just how big Dupont has become in France. Back in September, Dupont flew out to Palo Alto and posted a video on his Instagram of him speaking with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple.
L’Equipe described the conversation as “an unlikely meeting” and they were not kidding. Outside of Siya Kolisi, possibly Maro Itoje, it is incomprehensible to imagine a rugby player being involved in that kind of tête-à-tête. Dupont? It seems completely normal.
The partnerships and sponsors will keep lining up to work with him while the jaw-dropping moments keep happening on the field. What we saw on Thursday was that, ominously for everyone else, he may not have to do it all on his own anymore.
Photograph by ZUMAPRESS.com/Avalon