After spending last season adapting to rugby sevens to be ready for the Olympic Games (which, we can say, he succeeded perfectly), Antoine Dupont is now making the return journey in a way since he must now return to the systems of the XV of France, more than a year after his last match in Blue.
At the club, Antoine Dupont admitted to having had no trouble regaining his automatisms after the Olympics and his long vacation. But what about the return to the selection? Should an adaptation be made by Fabien Galthié's staff to get the captain back into the swing of things?
Nicolas Jeanjean assured, at a press conference, that no preferential treatment was in place for the scrum-half, given the few matches he was able to play with Toulouse. It must be said that Antoine Dupont did rather well during his club outings. Therefore, there is no necessarily need to take too many precautions when selecting.
Antoine had different treatment at the selection level, he was on the rugby sevens project. He still returned to XV with his club, so he calmly carried on his usual role as a XV player. He's been in this role for a good 4 weeks at the club. He is in continuity, we do not adapt the training to his profile at all.
“Individualize the collective burden”
Antoine Dupont does not necessarily need training adapted for him, but the Blues staff have placed the emphasis this week, since there are no matches this weekend, on adapted preparations for each player, according to the states of form observed. Indeed, some players have already played quite a bit and don't necessarily have the same needs as others. Adaptation ultimately concerns not just Dupont, but each element of the group. N icolas Jeanjean explained this balance to be found for each individual case.
The idea is to find a balance in the fitness of our players. Some players have already “matched” a lot, with eight Top 14 matches, which is a fairly significant load. This week therefore allowed us to individualize the collective load in order to relieve certain players who had accumulated a lot of playing time. And conversely to overexpose other players who needed it. It was truly an intense week of development.
To summarize
After spending last season adapting to rugby sevens to be ready for the Olympic Games, Antoine Dupont is now making the return journey in a way since he must now get back into the systems of the French XV. Did we have to adapt the training for his return? For Nicolas Jeanjean, the adaptation concerned each element of the France group and not just the captain.
