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Video length: 4 min
Rugby: Antoine Dupont is on all fronts
This season, Antoine Dupont is on all fronts. Between rugby sevens with the French team and rugby XV with Stade Toulousain, the Frenchman likes to take on new challenges to always be more efficient than ever.
(France TV)
Elected best player in the world at fifteen in 2021, Antoine Dupont took on the challenge of making the Olympic Games with the French team at seven. A choice for the moment paying off with notable performances in both circuits.
World Cup between September and October, Top 14 season and Champions Cup with Toulouse, rugby sevens tournaments and Olympic Games, Antoine Dupont is everywhere. “Antoine is a bit of a symbol of too much. Already, he has played almost too much”, summarizes Ugo Mola, his coach at Stade Toulouse. The most used player on the world 15-a-side circuit, the scrum-half added extra hours by embarking on the rugby sevens adventure. “I felt like I needed something new,” he justifies in “Stage 2”.
Management that stands up to end-of-season challenges
“Even if I took a risk, I didn’t see it like that. I saw it more as a challenge which allowed me to find motivation and a certain pressure”, adds the new darling of the circuit at seven. A new adventure which does not make it lose efficiency at 15, on the contrary. Facing Harlequins in the Champions Cup semi-finals, Antoine Dupont offered a new recital. “His management to date has been rather successful, but it will truly be successful if he finishes well with Stade Toulouse and if he performs well with the French sevens team”warns Ugo Mola.
A management that will once again be put to the test as the deadlines pile up. At fifteen, the Champions Cup final on May 25, then the Top 14 semi-final on June 21 or 22, before a hypothetical final a week later. At seven, he could, if his club releases him, play the last stage of the circuit in Madrid between May 31 and June 2, before the Olympic Games this summer. “I will rest after the Games”, he laughs. Why not with a well-rounded track record?
