Kiwi pundits give verdict on defending 'best player in the world' Dupont

The debate over the world’s best rugby player has in recent years been dominated by one name; Antoine Dupont. The French halfback’s ability to influence the game through so many facets has contributed to his side being – prior to Romain Ntamack’s injury – the favourites to win the Rugby World Cup.

Another remarkable performance from the 26-year-old against Scotland in the Summer Nations Series again put the world on notice and won more strong praise from pundits in their opening World Cup match’s opponent nation of New Zealand.

It will be a heavyweight bout to kick the tournament off in Paris with the 2011 finalists locking horns yet again, this time in Les Bleus’ backyard.

The stars will indeed be out for each team with the match having significant implications on what will be tough quarter-final fixtures.

And so disrupting Dupont will be of top priority for All Blacks head coach Ian Foster when preparing for the Test, a task like no other given how dangerous 2021’s World Rugby Player of the Year has proven to be.

“If you can’t shut Dupont down,” Sir John Kirwin told The Breakdown. “And the interesting thing is he’ll run early, so he puts the defence under pressure early and so the defence, especially around the rucks, start waiting for him and once they start waiting, he gets out to that second defender and then there’s all sorts of people running off him.

“I think the really interesting thing about the French and Irish attack is they do use their nines as part of their attack. So you see (Jamison) Gibson-Park, you see (Antoine) Dupont, they actually accelerate out and they accelerate out on interesting angles, they’re not going forward, they’re going across but there’s things happening off them and that slows the defence line up. Those two sides, you’ve got to shut the halves down quick.”

Kirwin’s analysis was echoed by another former All Black in James Parsons on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

Highlighting the specific passage of play in Romain Ntamack’s try in the 31st minute, Parsons shared his view that the Scottish defence was too “passive” in allowing Dupont to run off the back of the scrum, giving the halfback time to assess his options and engage defenders himself.

The suggested solution was going after Dupont when he is distributing, pressuring his passes and not giving him time to run. This would pose a huge challenge to the flankers off the side of the scrum and the tight five around the breakdown.

Even if the New Zealand side can concoct a scheme to get in Dupont’s face, the pundits agreed you can only hope that will throw the French captain off his game because he will almost certainly find ways to influence the match in other areas.

“When are we not impressed with him?” Maori All Black Bryn Hall added.

“You look at Ntamack’s try, he was a part of that. Penaud’s try, he was a part of that. The 44th-minute try, he was a part of that from counter-attacking as a fullback.

“His ability to have big moments in games, whatever that looks like – if it’s a long pass, if it’s a 50/22, if it’s a tackle, if it’s an intercept, counterattacking as a fullback – that’s the reason he’s the best player in the world.”