He is the face of this XV of France who has rediscovered the taste for victory and won back the hearts of his supporters.
Best player of the last Six Nations Tournament, the scrum half of the Blues and Toulouse Stadium Antoine Dupont seduced the world of rugby with his devastating acceleration and the panic he inspires in opposing defenses.
Before returning to the Tournament with the Blues this Saturday (3:15 p.m.) in Italy, the 24-year-old gave the Parisian a long videoconference interview from his home.
HIS STATUS
In 2017, you discovered the Blues in Italy, where you return this Saturday with the France team.
What has changed in your life for you?
ANTOINE DUPONT.
Many things.
My beginnings seem to me close and far at the same time.
A career in rugby goes very quickly and in four years, a lot has happened in sport.
The context of the France team has changed with this new dynamic instilled since the 2020 Tournament. We have benefited from the post-World Cup context, which encourages the staff to review the workforce.
It was the case and we were able to start again on good foundations.
It was beneficial for everyone.
Me, my evolution has not been linear with this knee injury (
Editor's note: in 2018 against Ireland
).
Even if I came back quickly with the France group, it took me a while to be able to chain matches with number 9.
When you are told that you are the star of the Top 14 and the XV of France, does that inspire you?
You always have to take it well, when you get praise from the press, but you also have to be careful
(smiles)
.
I'm starting to understand how the media work.
It makes me happy, but I don't pay more attention to it than that.
I focus on my matches, whether with Toulouse or the Blues.
I do not post the articles in my living room.
"The context of the French team has changed with this new dynamic instilled since the 2020 Tournament", rejoices Antoine Dupont.
LP / Olivier Corsan
Do you feel more expected now?
I don't have that feeling.
Beyond the individual, the whole team will be expected.
I was not the only one to perform well.
If our opponents have to make devices against all our dangerous players, it will be difficult for them.
I don't think there is an anti-Dupont plan.
But in this group, your status has changed ...
There is more expectation on me today than there was four years ago, I am no longer considered an emerging young player, so there are more responsibilities coming.
There are no longer the elders of the team to count on, it is up to our generation to take the project in hand now.
The transition went well.
Beyond the performances, from my position and the experience that I am starting to have, it is up to me and a few other players to lead this project.
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How do you live your celebrity?
I'm starting to get used to it, it comes little by little.
I am more comfortable now than I was four years ago with people who accost me.
I try to put myself in their shoes.
It's easier when they're kids.
I remember when I was little, that I badais the players of the Toulouse Stadium or the France team.
I wanted to see them, take a photo with them.
It's part of the game, it's a return of what people give us for support.
HIS LIFE
Who were your references in rugby?
It is the generation of the Toulouse Stadium of the 2000s, where there was almost the entire three-quarter line of the France team.
The first ones I admired were Michalak and Poitrenaud who had been champions of France with Toulouse at 18 years old.
I had the Blues jersey with Michalak and the Toulouse jersey with Poitrenaud.
I had received them at Christmas.
When did you say to yourself that you could make this sport your profession?
Since I was little, I have always wanted to be a professional rugby player, but I was not the type to make career plans.
I was rather dominant among the young people, but there are quite a few guys who stand out in the villages, and not all of them turn professional.
When it was necessary to do the tests to get into the hope centers, the pre-selection of those who were going to succeed in quotes, I was not selected because I was too small at the time.
It has been a winding journey.
I went to high school in Auch, where there was a rugby section, then I managed to sign in Castres (
Editor's note: his first professional club
).
How does it feel to be one of the smallest jigs on a lot?
I have always been the smallest, I grew up a little later than the others (
Editor's note: he measures 1.74 m today
).
I didn't grow masses, but it's better than before
(laughs)
.
On the other hand, I never wanted to use that to tell myself that it would be more complicated.
I have always liked this notion of physical challenge, the duels… For me, my size did not mean that I had to undergo.
It challenged me, facing children my age and older.
Just because they were fat or tall didn't mean they were going to be able to have me like that.
This is what motivated me.
"I have always been the smallest, I grew up a little later than the others," says Antoine Dupont, here with Gaël Fickou.
LP / Arnaud Journois
How was your hook born, your trademark in attack?
I don't really remember.
When I was little, I didn't do too many passes.
I liked to run with the ball and go to score.
As I was far from being the strongest, I found alternatives to get there.
And I bet on avoidance.
What do you see yourself doing after your career?
Very good question
(laughs)
.
I am an eternal undecided.
After the baccalaureate, I did a DUT in Physical Measurements for six months, then I reoriented myself in Staps, then I did a Master in sports management by directing myself a little by chance because I have no project professional defined.
We will say that it suits me well to have rugby to give me time to think about what I would like to do later.
It's already complicated when you're a student to know, so when you have a sports career on the side… Anyway, I don't see myself doing just one thing.
Part of your family works in the world of agriculture.
Could this interest you?
It was not an environment that attracted me when I was little.
When I went to the farm, it was more to ride a quad than to see the pigs.
I wouldn't have made it my job.
Which country are you attracted to when it comes to rugby?
New Zealand remains the rugby capital of the world.
I was unable to participate in the tour in 2018 because of my knee injury but it remains a country that I would like to discover, both for the rugby culture and for the country itself.
Seeing this religion around this sport, kids in the streets with balloons everywhere… It attracts me.
BLUES
Was the internship in Nice a year ago a founder for the group?
Yes.
It was the first time that I was doing a delocalized internship with the French team.
There was a little more playfulness.
This allowed us to get out of the context of Marcoussis, where sometimes in January we do not see the sun for ten days.
Mentally, training with 20 ° C every day, it gives emulation especially since there were a lot of new players.
Everyone wanted to give 200% in this new project, to find their place.
We did activities outside of rugby as well, which helped to bond.
But for me, the victory against England in the first game was even more crucial.
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Who are you closest to in this XV of France?
Obviously, there are my teammates from Stade Toulouse because I see them more, but there are also guys in the group who are from the same generation as me, with whom I played in the French teams when I was young.
Cyrille Baille, who is from Lannemezan like me, I have known him since I was little.
I was playing with Greg Alldritt and Anthony Jelonch in Auch.
It's important to know that you have friends you can count on in a team.
It's essential.
Are high intensity training harder than in a club?
No, it's the same.
With the arrival of GPS, we can no longer hide.
If you're tired, the data doesn't lie.
The rhythm of the matches increases every year.
The other nations were ahead in this area, we have caught up to it a bit.
We know that this high intensity training is a difficult time to go through during the week, but that it will do us good in matches on the weekends.
"We know that this high intensity training is a difficult time to go through during the week," admits Antoine Dupont.
LP / Arnaud Journois
What does it bring to have such a large staff?
Each has a well-defined role, each brings their skills.
When we have a question, we know who to contact.
Each member of the staff has been chosen for their results, their experience, their knowledge of their field.
This is necessarily a plus.
How much do you miss not having faced the nations of the South with this new France team?
The two best teams in the world
(Editor's note: South Africa and New Zealand)
are in the South.
Obviously, we always want to compete with the big guys but you have to know where you come from.
In view of the World Cup, we will have to play against all the teams.
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Fabien Galthié says that you are listening to Francis Cabrel in the locker room.
Is
there other music, other hits?
(Smiles)
It depends on the DJ.
Cabrel's “Rosie” and “October” come out regularly.
We have some really good singers on the team.
When it gives voice, it does not hurt.
Me, I'm a singer, not a good one.
COVID-19, INJURIES
Are you worried about the financial worries of the clubs linked to closed doors?
It is a complicated period in all sectors.
That of pro sport is no exception.
For us, what is complicated is that we are an actor but we cannot do much.
We are helpless.
It sounds worrying, but we are not at the end of pro rugby.
There will be solutions.
Nobody wants this to stop.
Maybe this will reduce the surge in salaries of recent years or budgets a bit.
We still see clubs building new training centers, investing and continuing to develop.
Even if it's a difficult time, we will see the end of it one day.
We will go up the slope.
Is playing behind closed doors disturbing?
At the beginning yes.
Now, it doesn't have to be, but it takes something away.
It is starting to take a long time.
The public is a real plus.
Besides, there are more away wins now.
When we play, it's for us but also for the public, to give them pleasure and to give it back to us.
When we think of our best memories, these are great victories but atmospheres of madness in packed stadiums.
This is also why we do this sport.
We can hear you talking on the lawn now ...
You can hear almost everything.
You have to be careful, especially when you moan against the referee.
We can take ten more meters.
Have you been affected by the Covid-19?
I touch wood.
No one has been around me.
Do you think that athletes should be vaccinated as a priority?
We are not a priority because we are not the most in danger.
It might be good to do it to set an example.
To get out of it, we don't have many other solutions.
If this can allow us to play again with an audience, we are all ready to do it.
But that's not the priority at the moment.
Since your right knee injury (rupture of the anterior cruciate ligaments in February 2018), have you been apprehensive?
It doesn't bother me on the pitch but it's true that for a long time it disturbed me.
I did some mental work.
With the crusaders, there are always small complications, so sometimes I have a shot of juice in the knee, or it swells.
Over time, things get better and better.
It's a daily job to keep flexibility.
Are you worried about concussions?
I do not think about it.
The best way not to hurt yourself is to commit 100%.
For almost eight years since the protocols were put in place, we have all been made aware of this.
When I take a hit, I have the reflex to immediately ask myself questions to know if I am lucid.
I'm not the most exposed post on this.
I had a concussion in 2014. I was not 18 years old.
I had taken a hit.
I was not knocked out, but disoriented on the pitch.
I went out and did nothing for three weeks.
BIO EXPRESS
Born November 15, 1996 (24 years old) in Lannemezan (Hautes-Pyrénées)
1.74 m;
86 kg
Scrum half
Clubs: Magnoac (until 2011), Auch (2011-2014), Castres (2014-2017), Toulouse (since 2017)
French Champion 2019 with Stade Toulouse
27 selections with the XV of France (7 tries)
1st selection: March 11, 2017 in Rome against Italy