Aurélien Canot, Media365, published on Friday November 8, 2024 at 4:45 p.m.
After almost a year of absence, Antoine Dupont will make his comeback with the French XV, Saturday against Japan at the Stade de France. The captain of the Blues, crowned Olympic champion at 7 this summer, spoke of the event on Friday at a press conference.
The debut of the XV of France, Saturday at the Stade de France against Japan, in what should now be called the Autumn Nations Series but which purists continue to describe more simply as a November tour will be eclipsed by another event. This first of the three test matches awaiting the Blues will indeed be marked by the great return to the selection of Antoine Dupont, almost a year after his last appearance. After the disillusionment of the last World Cup against South Africa in the quarter-finals, the still best player in the world for many specialists had disloyalty to the XV for a rugby 7 parenthesis with a single objective: to help the French team to win gold at the Paris Games. Mission accomplished for the more superstar of French rugby than ever (“In the street, notoriety has grown, we know the scale of the Olympics. It's changed a little but it hasn't been a revolution either, I had already a fairly present notoriety before”), who will therefore return from Saturday to his life as captain of the Blues of the XV, still as motivated and eager for victories (“It's instinctive, something that I have in me. When I'm on the field, I want to win).
Dupont: “I think the 7 was useful to me when I returned to XV”
The star scrum-half from Toulouse assured the press on Friday on the eve of making his comeback. “We are in a different context compared to the World Cup. We are in a new cycle with new objectives and the motivation to win all the matches and have fun. Everyone was frustrated with the VI Nations Tournament despite second place, we know the ingredients we need to put in to have fun, I hope that will show tomorrow (Saturday),” confided Dupont, also certain that his experience at 7 made it even better. XV player. “There are a lot of similarities. Even if it's a different discipline, a lot of things are the same. I found certain things that I had abandoned, the game of duels, the game in spaces. I was less comfortable at the start. There was also the whole ruck game, I had to focus on it and I think it helped me when I returned to XV.
Dupont: “The World Cup remains the ultimate goal”
Determined to take revenge at the next World Cup (“That remains the ultimate goal. We have the experience to tell ourselves that what we are working on today is with the aim of being efficient in three years” ), the playing master of the Rouge et Noir will not be out of place for his comeback. At his side as a hinge, in the absence of Romain Ntamack, he will in fact have another club teammate at his side: Thomas Ramos. “In the playing identity that we advocate in Toulouse and here, there are a lot of similarities. I'm not worried. It will go very well tomorrow.” And the Stade de France will only have eyes for “SuperDupont”.
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