Although he has since recovered, Antoine Dupont still has the defeat conceded by the Blues against South Africa at the last World Cup in his throat.
The double achieved in the spring with Stade Toulousain and especially the Olympic gold medals won this summer with the Bleus du VII in Paris were obviously synonymous with immense joy. However, the memory of the elimination against South Africa in the quarter-finals of the last World Cup remains a bruise for Fabien Galthié's troops, first and foremost Antoine Dupont.
“I watched the match the next day, obviously because there was a lot of frustration. It will always be painful and I think it will certainly be for the rest of our lives, he confided during an exchange with Sud Radio. But unfortunately we cannot go back on it, we have to manage to live with it, to put things into perspective. But there will always be regrets about this match and we will talk about it for a long time to come I think. »
Antoine Dupont, goal 2027
Back in the French team after a year of absence, a consequence of his adventure with the Bleus du VII, the Toulouse scrum half is now focused on the 2027 World Cup in Australia.
“There was something new in the physical staff and also on the pitch. There are also a lot of new players, as we saw in this list, that I haven't been around too much either except for the weekends in the top 14 in the team opposite. So yes there will be a lot of new things and obviously, that projects us towards the next objective: the World Cup,” he explained.
“We know that each international match played will be used to prepare for the 2027 World Cup. Until then, there will be many short-term and medium-term objectives with the deadlines that we know,” he continued, obviously wanting to be ambitious: “In the first round, in 2020, we didn't really know where we were going. We were very young, we had few victories with the France team. We know how far we have come, how much confidence we have gained to get as close as possible to this Rugby World Cup. So we know the work we have to do over the next three years to be able to apply and claim this title. »
And at 27, Antoine Dupont does not rule out still being present in 2031 for the World Cup in the United States. “I don’t know, I didn’t plan at all. I'll see what state my body is in by then and how my head is too. This is what tells you if you continue or if you stop playing at a given moment. »
France
Rugby
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