It’s a big hit for Antoine Dupont: the scrum half from Toulouse and the French XV was named best player in the Top 14 and best Blue of last season this Monday, November 20, during Rugby Night. Dupont (27 years old, 52 caps) had already signed this same double two years ago.
“It obviously validates the work and the fact of not just having a good season but of managing to string them together,” he reacted after receiving his trophies during the ceremony organized at L’Olympia. In the Top 14, he succeeds Montpellier’s English third row Zach Mercer, crowned best player in the championship last season and has since moved to Gloucester.
The number 9 from Stade Toulouse also won the title of best French international for the third time in a row, this year ahead of La Rochelle third row Grégory Alldritt and Clermont and then Bordeaux-Bègles winger Damian Penaud.
“Having the recognition of your peers, whether it’s the other players who elect me, it’s true that it means a lot and it’s always nice to feel recognized by the people we play against every weekend” , added Dupont.
From XV de France to rugby sevens
A leading figure in French rugby, captain of the Blues quarter-finalists of the 2023 World Cup, Dupont will join, from January, the group which will prepare the rugby sevens event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, effectively making the impasse on the next edition of the Six Nations Tournament.
“For any sports fan, the Olympic Games are legendary. It is perhaps a little less so for rugby fans where we have less of this appetite since the sport has only recently been available. Despite that, being able to host this sporting event in France is going to be an incredible celebration: being able to be part of it and, above all, being able to claim an Olympic medal, it’s a highly motivating challenge,” confided Antoine Dupont during the Nuit du rugby.
He could participate in two tournaments on the world rugby sevens circuit in Vancouver, Canada (February 23 to 25) and Los Angeles in the United States (March 2 and 3). “It is certain that there will be a necessary time of adaptation,” he continued.
Because Dupont, the best fifteen player in the world in 2021, will have to convince the general manager of the French sevens rugby team Christophe Reigt and the coach Jérôme Daret: he has no assurance of playing in the Olympics, won by Fiji in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 then Tokyo in 2021. “Antoine has a very rugby attitude: he doesn’t want to be parachuted. He knows that, in a rugby team, you earn your place. If he makes the Games, and he said he wants to make them, he’s a superb prospect even if we will have to do without him in the Six Nations Tournament. But, frankly, what a great image for rugby sevens and for the country! It will be an important standard bearer,” said the president of the FFR, Florian Grill.
Toulouse and Oyonnax crowned, a very red and black record
The Rouge et Noir, reigning French champions, completed their harvest with the best staff trophy, awarded to Ugo Mola, Laurent Thuéry, Clément Poitrenaud and Jean Bouilhou. Then that of the best try, scored by the opening half Romain Ntamack, in the final of the Top 14, in front of La Rochelle (29-26), at the end of a crazy race of almost 50 meters.
Oyonnax pillar Thomas Laclayat, who joined Racing 92 this summer, was named best player in Pro D2 while young Pau center Emilien Gailleton was the revelation of last season.
Blagnac center Gabrielle Vernier, who was named among World Rugby’s best players of the year, won the title of best international. Finally, Mathieu Raynal, the only French referee selected to officiate as the main referee during the last World Cup, was named referee of the year.