Friend and foe unite to acclaim France’s ‘martian’ Antoine Dupont

France's Antoine Dupont offloads to Arthur Vincent as he is tackled by Luca Sperandio of Italy. Picture: INPHO/Dave Winter

It is one thing for the rugby press and fans to proclaim a certain player ‘the world’s best’ — it is something else altogether when another player who is widely regarded as number one does it.

So, when All Blacks scrum-half Aaron Smith hailed France’s Antoine Dupont as the best in the game today in reply to a tweet from the Guinness Six Nations, it was — as numerous Twitter users noted — a case of ‘game recognises game’.

Dupont had already been named player of the tournament’s first round — after winning plenty of plaudits from pundits and journalists over the weekend for his try and four assists in France’s 50-10 win over Italy in Rome — when the tournament’s social media team asked in a tweet, “Who is the best rugby player in the world right now?”.

Smith, the most capped nine in All Blacks’ history, responded: “(Dupont) this guy is on another level! No one is near him atm. He’s the point of difference for both his club and country. He’s helping me look at parts of my game to improve.”

@Dupont9A this guy is on another level! No one is near him atm. He’s the point of difference for both his Club and country. He’s helping me look at parts of my game to improve #Respect #9Gang

— Aaron Smith (@Te_Nug) February 10, 2021

It was the second time in a matter of months that Smith had namechecked the French nine in response to a similar question. Back in August 2020, he answered a tweet asking “Best northern hemisphere 9 right now?” with: “Antoine Dupont! He is unreal.”

DuPont France 9
(He is Unreal🔥) #9Gang

— Aaron Smith (@Te_Nug) August 12, 2020

France are scheduled to play New Zealand in November, all being well, after a planned summer tour of Australia, so rugby fans — hopefully — should not have to wait much longer for that particular overdue pitch battle.

But Dupont’s more pressing concern is the Six Nations, and Sunday’s match against Ireland in Dublin, where he is expected to face Ireland and British and Irish Lions’ nine Conor Murray.

And, in fact, for his France colleagues at the training camp in Nice, Dupont is not just the world’s best, he is out of this world.

Toulouse team-mate Cyril Baille revealed that he has given Les Bleus’ nine the nickname ‘the martian’, to go with ‘Toto’ — his usual nom de guerre — or ‘Ministre de l’Intérieur’, for his uncanny ability to pop-up on an often try-scoring inside line.

“[Dupont] ... does not come from the same planet as us,” Baille told reporters. “He’s our X-factor, even though we have several in our back lines … It’s really a pleasure to play alongside him. We’re lucky he’s in the France team.”

“He’s always one step ahead,” added Les Bleus’ resurgent fullback Brice Dulin.

“Where he is impressive is his consistency. He manages to maintain a consistently high performance level. In every match, he creates things and very often he disrupts the opposing defences on his own.”

“His great strength [is his] anticipation, [his] vision of things. He is always one step ahead.”

But he insisted that it is not just ability alone that has led to the acclaim. “It’s really hard work. He will look for things, and nothing happens by chance. He’s a huge worker.”

He was also quick to remind reporters that rugby is a team game. “If Antoine finds himself in these situations, it’s also because the players around him create them, so we are also lucky to have forwards who have good hands and who make room for them to play,” he said.

“This creates gaps, and, with players like Toto often in support, it allows us to score some decent tries.”