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Antoine Dupont might be France's greatest player but not yet the world's
By Ben Smith
Antoine Dupont is on the way to becoming one of the greatest rugby players the game has seen, but there are too many boxes left to tick for France’s superstar to be considered the greatest of all-time.
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The gifted halfback may well already be the game’s best ever talent. In terms of playing ability, the magical things that Dupont has pulled off on a rugby field in this era is unrivalled.
Dan Carter pulled off the same type of spellbinding plays all throughout his career. But for most of Carter’s career, the game was still evolving from the amateur and the space offered was far more generous than today.
At a time where the players are the biggest, strongest, fittest they have ever been, Dupont has pulled off the unthinkable.
But talent and ability does not equal greatness alone. Talent is the benchmark that sets expectations, but it’s what you do with that talent that matters.
Already the expectations for Dupont are pretty high.
No doubt Dupont is building an impressive list of achievements, but there are some glaring omissions that need to be addressed.
The country’s own priorities have prevented Dupont from achieving more in the international game.
The focus on the league, the Top 14, is commercially beneficial for France but has detracted from other parts of the international calendar.
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Dupont has July off most seasons, in order to rest the body after a punishing league and European season.
France sends second and third stringers to tour in the July international window and Dupont has only gone on one in his career, when he was just breaking into the national side himself as a third string No 9.
His 24 minutes off the bench against the Springboks in South Africa in 2017 remain his only Test action out of Europe. That was part of a French team that lost the series 3-0 to an average Springbok side.
Other great playmakers in the modern age, Dan Carter, Johnny Wilkinson, Johnny Sexton, all toured away from home. The latter two took on the All Blacks at home and secured historic wins. Those wins became part of the folklore and legend of the player.
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It goes without saying but New Zealanders and South Africans will never consider Dupont the greatest if he does not beat two of the strongest nations in rugby history at home.
It is one of the biggest challenges in the international arena and to duck that challenge is, unfortunately, a black mark on the resume.
France will travel to New Zealand in 2025 but it is unlikely Dupont will travel.
Having already achieved four Top 14 titles and two European crowns, you would think perhaps maybe that is the year that Dupont and France should target a historic result. There is nothing left to achieve at home and Dupont is genuinely a chance at becoming the greatest ever player.
The 2009 side that shocked the All Blacks in Dunedin lives in imfany with legends like Sebastien Chabal earning a great respect with the New Zealand rugby public as a result.
But if Dupont is not on that tour and does not come to New Zealand and beat the All Blacks, he will never be considered the greatest.
Dupont can be considered a great player, even the best talent ever seen, but it will certainly hard to be considered the greatest player without winning a Rugby World Cup.
France had a golden opportunity to capture the title at home in 2023 but again, the FFR, management, and coaching staff cost the team the title.
The biggest blow came before a single bounce of the ball, when France lost Romain Ntamack in a meaningless warm-up match against Scotland on the eve of the World Cup.
Often overlooked due to Dupont’s individual talent, Ntamack was also a top five player in the world. Over the previously two years, he was the world’s best 10.
No side can lose the world’s best 10 and not suffer as a result. For France, they lost Dupont’s right-hand man and one half of the dynamic Toulouse duo who are vital to France’s success.
So many of Dupont’s incredible plays have been done with Ntamack’s involvement.
Matthieu Jalibert produced a shocker of a performance in that quarter-final against South Africa, highlighting how important the loss of Ntamack was.
In addition to a Rugby World Cup winners medal, Dupont will have to add more individual honours. He has been nominated twice for the men’s 15s Player of the Year, winning the award once in 2021.
By all rights he should have had the award in 2020 as well, but they were not given out. So the fact remains he has one, while Richie McCaw and Dan Carter have three each.
In McCaw’s case, he was nominated a further five times where he didn’t claim the award. Carter, twice.
When everything is considered and stacked up side-by-side, Antoine Dupont might be France’s greatest player of all-time, but certainly not the world’s.
He might be the best playing talent the world has seen, but unless he ticks more boxes, he will fail to become the greatest player of all-time.
Ludicrous article. It’s hilarious how Kiwis get hot under the collar about some other country’s player being called the GOAT, like it’s some personal insult. I’m assuming the writer is a Kiwi - he writes like one. My favourite is ‘he’s never won a RWC so he can’t be the GOAT’ - before listing players who could like Lomu and Cullen.
Individual players don’t ‘win world cups. Teams do. It’s not in any player’s gift to deliver a RWC to their country.
Dupont is unique in the combination of athletic gifts and skillsets. He could play ANY position in the backline at international level, and probably ‘7’ as well.
Dupont is an incredible player.
And besides the need for clicks on a rugby website, almost everything he does on the pitch seems exciting, even when other players doing the same things do not get the same appraisal.
But one thing is certain. Although he has 2 articles on rugby websites per day, half of the people commenting still do not know how to write his name properly.
Du Pont. Du pont. DuPont. Du Point. AdP.
Is that a way of owning his greatness…? I really don’t get it 🥲
Players who pass, kick from hand and at goal, direct play, run through or past defences, set up tries with flair are far more skilled than a player who tackles or jackles all game, regardless how good they are at those jobs. The 9 and 10 are almost always the top skilled players in any team. No team can win without top players in those positions.
It’s stupid to judge how good a player is by how well their team do. You can be a brilliant player but be part of a useless team, much like Hooper was for the Wallabies. DuPont is a wonderful talent whether they win a world cup or not.
To be fair to him, having these articles in the first place is a massive sign of how good he is, but yeah we shouldn’t call anyone a GOAT, not even Carter, not because it’s not true, but it’s disrespectful to players from the past. We can say a player was a great player and a legend. You can certainly say in your opinion he is the GOAT, but please let’s stop this he is the GOAT nonsense. It’s impossible to truly know this.
What does beating the current all blacks prove? He's the best player because he helped beat the 3rd ranked team at home. Nice logic Ben!
Rugby is a team sport, you can't judge a player on the team result only their contributions. If MJ only played home games for the bulls he'd still be considered one of the best.
Just ask yourself who would be your first pick if you were to create a rugby team? I'd say 90% would pick Carter or Du pont. Especially in the current laws and environment.
Both McCaw and Carter quite easily still rank higher. If it’s just half backs we’re talking about he certainly is in the equation for pro-era greats; along with A Smith, Van De Westhaven, Gregan
Sir Gareth Edwards is still top. Every rugby country in the World has him at or near the top. I don’t think that’s the case with Dupont.
The current World Rugby Player of the Year is Ardie Savea. Facts.
We need a story, any ideas? Lets just rehash the meaningless greatest player article.
(But don’t mention any of the amazing Welsh players from the 70's)