His Olympic gold medal‑winning stint playing sevens for France last year has made him more effective around the rucks – witness his four turnovers in the Champions Cup final last season – and sharpened his radar when it comes to spotting and exploiting defensive gaps.
How the whole of France would love to rewind the clock to the fateful 2023 World Cup pool game against Namibia when Dupont, with his side already miles ahead, sustained a fractured cheekbone following a head-on tackle by Johan Deysel.
Dupont can kick with both feet, he can run and offload, he can tackle like a youthful bull, he can see space like no one else can and, by way of an added bonus, he is captain of his national team as well.
And when red‑rose supporters think of the greatest cockerel‑strutting French teams seen in south-west London not even their influential No 9s – Jacques Fouroux, Jérôme Gallion, Pierre Berbizier or Fabien Galthié – would be leapfrogging the 28-year-old from Castelnau-Magnoac, a village not far from the Spanish border.
Scrum-half Dupont took time off to snare Olympic gold which has made him even more effective around the rucks.
