Champions Cup – Antoine Dupont (Toulouse): “Potential is only verified when you lift a trophy”

What are your feelings before this big meeting?

It’s always a lot of fun, excitement and pride to be in the final four. This rewards the work done throughout the season. But if we stop there, it will have been useless. We are warned because we have stopped several times at this stage of the competition. We know the disappointment this represents. This year, the team put itself in the best conditions by having given itself the means to host this half. We hope to go one step further

You comfortably beat Harlequins on their home field in a group match in December. Should we rely on this success to prepare for the semi-final or is there some form of trap?

A lot has happened since then. They have gained confidence in all their last results, they have scored a lot of tries each time. I think they also learned from this defeat at home. In the final phase, the teams manage to have extra spirit and raise their level of play in all sectors. We expect to face the Harlequins team which beat Bordeaux-Bègles more than the one from December.

How did you feel about the group during the last setup this Saturday morning?

Good, relaxed, confident but vigilant too. All week we saw images of Harlequins, who we already knew, who are very dangerous with the ball in hand, who have players who can be decisive almost anywhere on the pitch. We will have to play a very serious match in defense to hope for anything.

Ugo Mola indicated that he wanted to finish the match with a strong and experienced team. When we see the names on the bench (Ramos, Arnold, Marchand, etc.), we suspect that there is enormous emulation internally at the moment. How do you experience it?

This is what we experience but it is what the players have always experienced at Stade Toulouse. We can look at the squads from the great era when they won a lot, and there were international substitutes or in the stands. Here, there has always been a very competitive team with a lot of positive emulation. Everyone wants to find a place in the field. They are expensive and you have to maintain a high level of play to stay there. This is also what is happening in our squad. Every time a guy is put on the sheet, he raises his level in the group and that pushes the others to raise theirs. When these important matches arrive, you have to make choices. The main thing is to think about the team, about common objectives. This is what will push us to achieve the best possible result.

Your manager also said that your generation is special but that it has not yet completely marked the history of this club, as much as some previous ones. Is this your feeling too?

Yes, I think especially in the sense that we feel that we really have the potential to win again. We had the chance to win a few titles, and we lost some too. We have even more experience than a few years ago, with almost the same players. Then, others who joined us to win, with a lot of quality. This is how we see things: we have the potential to win again. But this potential is only verified when you lift a trophy. It’s up to us to continue to make the club’s history.

You were talking about lost titles. You have mostly lost in the semi-finals so far. How is this meeting different?

The approach is necessarily different, it is not the same context. The lost ones were outside. And the only one won in the Champions Cup (in 2021 against UBB, Editor’s note) was at home in a particular context with Covid. It wasn’t our best match but we managed to be serious and dominant at the end. Afterwards, we don’t pay too much attention to it. Every season is different.

Harlequins and Stade Toulouse are used to scoring a lot of points. Should we expect a match where things will go in all directions?

I don’t hope so (smile). I hope that we will manage to regulate the game a little and not fall into ultra-offensive rugby. Harlequins have the ability to score tries rather easily, from a long distance. We will already need a very solid defense and ensure the fundamentals to then develop our game. But I think that it will still be an open match, given that they and we want to carry the ball, to play the game. It should be pleasant to watch.

Should we make an individual marking on flyhalf Marcus Smith?

Individual, no. But collective, yes. Like all dangerous players, especially in such a strategic position, we know that he is capable of making personal differences but also of putting his partners in the gaps. You will really have to be connected in his zone but also not throw yourself at him because that could open doors.

We talk a lot about their offensive appetite but, paradoxically, it is also on carried balls and scrums that Harlequins established their domination against Union Bordeaux-Bègles…

When we arrive at this stage of the competition, we are complete in all sectors. Even in the league, you can’t win so many matches just by playing balls from everywhere. They also have an effective kicking game, a very experienced hinge and a conquering forward pack. They are good on the ground and in touch. They are not in the semi-final for nothing. This is why we will first have to be strong on the fundamentals before talking about the whole game afterwards.