LONG READ Can 'great' Gibson-Park best 'freakish' Dupont in scrum-half clash for the ages?

Between them, Irish photographers James Crombie and Dan Sheridan captured more than 5,000 images at the 2024 Champions Cup final. Two of the photos tell you all you ever need to know about the game.

Empty, crumpled water battles strewn around him, Jamison Gibson-Park sits on astroturf in front of the Leinster bench. His boots are off and he gnaws at his fingernails. There are tears in his eyes. Twenty metres away, the stage is being set for the victorious Toulouse team.

In the other image, Antoine Dupont is also in tears. He is embraced by Ugo Mola and it is the sight of his coach that sets him off. Dupont went into that final having won once in eight previous meetings with Leinster. They had dashed plenty of dreams. Revenge took a while but, when it arrived, tasted just as sweet.

It has been 10 months since that match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. We are at a safe enough distance to bring up the final to Leinster and Ireland full-back Hugo Keenan without spiralling him into despair. Days out from another meeting with Dupont, Keenan ruefully smiles and shakes his head. In London, the Toulouse scrum-half produced four turnovers (two inside his 22), had two sublime 50/22 kicks and ruthlessly turned the screw in a player of the match display.

“He was brilliant that day, whether it was a few of the poaches he got or kicks he put in,” says Keenan. “He had a couple of 50/22s which made a big difference, as well as him having the X-factor of his offloading, passing and running game. He’s the full package.”

Keenan and Dupont stepped back from XVs for periods of last season to chase Olympic glory in sevens. While Keenan and Ireland reached a quarter-final at Paris 2024, Dupont was the driving force for France as they won gold in a fantastic 28-7 victory over Fiji. In Monaco last November, Dupont added a World Rugby sevens player of the year accolade to one he claimed for the XVs game in 2021.

Even before those Olympic feats, rugby greats were lining up to laud Dupont. When the International Rugby Experience had a grand opening in 2023, Sean Fitzpatrick, Bryan Habana, Francois Pienaar, Joy Neville, Danielle Waterman, Keith Wood, Matt Dawson and Martin Johnson all put the Frenchman’s name forward as best in the world. The only contrarian voice came from former England centre Jeremy Guscott who said Josh van der Flier (world player of the year in 2022) still had the honour until someone seized it from him. Still, Guscott deadpanned, “He’s pretty good though, isn’t he, Dupont?”

he best player in the world is Antoine Dupont, and I think he’s going to be the best rugby player of all time.

Paul O’Connell, Ireland forwards coach, and Johnny Sexton, who has been in camp working with Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley and Ciarán Frawley, were also at that event in Limerick. “The best player in the world is Antoine Dupont,” said O’Connell, “and I think he’s going to be the best rugby player of all time. He’s certainly the best rugby player I’ve ever seen.”

Sexton was not far behind. “Dupont could go on and be the best player of all time. He is that good.” Considering the legends those Irishmen played with and against, compliments do not get higher.

Dupont has two nicknames within the French squad. When he was in the international set-up, Brice Dulin called him ‘Toto’. Cyril Baille went with ‘The Martian’. “He is an extra-terrestrial,” Baille explained. “I really think he comes from another planet.”

To take last season’s Champions Cup as an example, Dupont finished with five tries and seven try assists, then topped the charts for offloads (20) and carries (110), was second for metres made (354) and clean breaks (16) and joint-third for turnovers won (9). He would often close out games in the fly-half role and, like Brian O’Driscoll in the latter stages of his career, can morph into an additional loose forward when it is time to dig in.

Ireland winger James Lowe once remarked the video analysts had to go back to 2016/17, when Dupont was at Castres, to find any chinks in his armour. “Man, that guy is freakish,” Lowe observed. “He’s so quick around the park and so physical. Makes all the right decisions and puts people into holes.”

The pedestal Dupont is placed upon is so high only South African supporters and pundits – buoyed by back-to-back World Cups – legitimately feel they can offer alternatives when ‘world’s best’ chat ramps up. It was also what made France’s defeat by England at Twickenham so remarkable – for the first time in recent memory, Dupont looked human. He shelled a Thomas Ramos pass that cost his side a certain try and was pressured into a couple of rushed passes and loose kicks by England’s aggressive defence which flooded passing lanes.

I’m always competing – that’s my mindset – whether it is training at Irish camp or here in Leinster.

“It was just so unlike France, to see them do that,” teased former Ireland winger Andrew Trimble on Virgin Media Sport. “They probably used all of their errors for 12 months of rugby, and Ireland are going to pay the price in Dublin!”

While Dupont got back on track against Italy, Gibson-Park has not missed a beat. He finished the England and Wales wins with player of the match medals dangling around his neck. Without taking anything away from Prendergast’s showing against Scotland, Gibson-Park deserved that award in Edinburgh too. He was a marvel and at the centre of every positive attacking thrust or kick behind the home lines. When Scotland were at their most dangerous, his sprint back to make a try-saving tackle on Huw Jones was huge.

To my mind, Gibson-Park has been the championship’s outstanding player over the first three rounds. He has guided Prendergast superbly, his kicking game is getting better and better, and he was Ireland’s beating heart during that tough 20-minute period when his team were down to 14 men against Wales. Even when it looked like he had put too much sauce on a cross-field kick to Lowe, it was part of a pre-planned move inspired by a visit to camp by Gaelic footballer Brian Fenton. The winger outjumped Blair Murray and tapped the ball back to the charging Jamie Osborne to score. “That’s not by chance,” insisted Simon Easterby.

The 33-year-old duked it out with Conor Murray for his first 18 months of Test rugby. Ever since he took the fight to his native New Zealand in a 29-20 win at Aviva Stadium in November 2021, that contest was over. Murray, Craig Casey or Caolin Blade have the late cameos while Gibson-Park rips into sides from the get-go.

“The way I look at it, and what’s important for me, is the moment you feel like you’re that main guy, you start to get comfortable,” he said. “I’m always competing – that’s my mindset – whether it is training at Irish camp or here in Leinster. Every day I go out there, I’m trying to improve my own game, and I’m competing against the other guys.

“You do want to get to a place where you are well established but once you get too comfortable, it gets a little dangerous. I just have that competitive mindset. I’m a competitive guy, and I take every day as it comes. I want those challenges.”

Keenan is effusive in his praise. “I see him as potentially the best player in the world and see how important he is to Leinster and Ireland.” Such statements are commonplace when you speak with members of the Ireland squad. They are conscious to namecheck Dupont (they are not crazy) but Gibson-Park, they maintain, deserves to be in the conversation.

“Dupont is arguably one of the best players in the world,” says Mack Hansen. “I find a lot of the other nines can get discarded a little bit, and Jamo is in that category. When he’s on the field and he’s playing well, he adds so much to the group and so much to our flow, and how we play.”

He is up on Dupont’s level. He is not the first-choice Irish nine for nothing.

The Gibson-Park chorus has a growing international feel to it. Former Scotland captain John Barclay recently told the BBC the Ireland scrum-half is the second-best player in the world, behind Dupont. Former France star Morgan Parra is loath to choose one or the other. “Gibson-Park is not just a good player, he is a great player,” the Stade Francais backs coach states. “He is up on Dupont’s level. He is not the first-choice Irish nine for nothing. We have seen this up close, because he had a huge World Cup in France. He is hugely influential to the Irish game.”

During a lively BBC Rugby Union Weekly podcast discussion, Welsh broadcaster Gareth Rhys Owen made a fascinating argument. Owen shared his opinion that while Dupont is the planet’s best player, Gibson-Park is the best nine. “He has taken over the mantle from Aaron Smith as best scrum-half in the world and he’s a shoo-in to start at nine for the Lions. He was absolutely incredible.”

If you want that debate settled, look no further than Gibson-Park. “Antoine is the best player in the world these last few years,” the Ireland star insists.

If Gibson-Park can help see off a vipers’ nest French side, he should secure three prizes in one fell swoop – player of the tournament, a Lions ticket and a third straight championship title.

Keenan tees up this seismic fixture nicely. The pain of that Champions Cup loss is keenly felt, but he chased his rugby dream to play alongside the likes of Gibson-Park, and against miraculous talent such as Dupont.

“Antoine has been one of the best players in the world for the past few years,” says Keenan. “He’s always a huge challenge to come up against, but you want to be testing yourself against the best players in the world, whether that is with Leinster or Ireland.

“France are flying. They were excellent against Italy. The danger with them is that it is not just Dupont. They have an array of incredibly gifted backs and a huge, physical group of forwards. It’s where we want to be – up against the very best in the world at the Aviva, in what will be a sell-out.”