Certainly, this is not the very vocation of his scrum-half position. But since Antoine Dupont always knows how to think outside the box, here he is remarkable in the exercise. And this has always been the case.
But his defensive qualities are not the most highlighted, even though they still manage to surprise some of those who come across him, often or less often. “We don't necessarily think of him in that register, but Antoine Dupont, when he has decisive tackles to make, he makes them every time. He saved us several times at the edge of the line, notably in the French team“, replied Francois Cros when asked for his top 3 best tacklers in the world.
VIDEO. TOP 14. Stade Toulousain. Antoine Dupont's strong decision regarding his futureWas he pointing the finger at his exceptional save on Mack Hansen against Ireland during the 2023 Six Nations Tournament? Probably. But the Stade Toulousain reaper certainly has in mind the many stirring defensive actions of his captain against Scotland in 2022 or, against England during this same Tournament, where he made 15 tackles. Post record in the competition.
In the same sense, this evocative sentence from Fabien Galthié also comes to mind to present his prodigy to Didier Deschamps, in Monaco, during the preparation for the 2023 World Cup: “He is my best defender. He has a better tackle success rate than the 3rd lines.“
RUGBY. VIDEO. Enraged, Dupont doubles up with 3 tackles in 7 seconds to save ToulouseFormidable in the second curtain, very effective in cutting the outside (this is why he often intervenes in the line in the French team) and hard on the man thanks to his robustness (1m74 for 85kg) and his appetite for exercise, Dupont is probably the best defender on the planet in his position, in fact.
The ultimate sign of the ultra-complete palette of the ball of muscles of the Blues, who – what's more – perfected his ground game and his standing defense during his move to 7 this year. In short, is there really anything Toto can't do?
Cros also favors Ahki and Meafou
Note that to complete his top 3, François Cros did not look too far and remained with Stade Toulousain: Pita Ahki, “quite demonic in midfield” and Emmanuel Meafou, author of “big offensive tackles”, like the latest one on his former teammate Selevasio Tolofua against Toulon recently. Are Toulouse residents chauvinistic?
