The mystifying qualities that made France's 'alien' Antoine Dupont the best in the world

By common consent the best player on the planet, Dupont looks set to star again in the Six Nations. With the help of the France star’s teammates, Harry Latham-Coyle explains what makes the glorious gifts and brilliant basics that make the scrum-half so good. Unanimity is tough to find in the parochial, pestiferous realm of sporting debate, but there is one question to which a consensus answer is increasingly being agreed. Ask just about anyone in rugby about Antoine Dupont and their response will end up at the same destination, perhaps preceded by a stunned silence or a stream of superlatives.

“He’s the best player in the world,” France No 8 Gregory Alldritt affirmed on Friday night after Dupont’s starring role in the Six Nations win over Wales. Toulouse teammate Jack Willis went a step further following Champions Cup glory last year: “He’s probably the best rugby player of all time.”. A few detractors remain, particularly in the southern hemisphere where Dupont has hitherto been seldom sighted, but rugby has perhaps never seen a game-bending talent quite like the scrum-half. France have often been ruled by their petit generals but the 28-year-old possesses a command, confidence and creativity beyond that of just about anyone to have held an oval ball.

Jonah Lomu inspired awe and launched rugby into a new era; Dan Carter was a perfect 10 of immaculate standards; Eben Etzebeth and Richie McCaw’s relentless excellence have been the bedrock of double World Cup-winning sides. Yet there is something different about Dupont. Captain, leader and playmaking pivot, he assumes just about every duty for France as they chase more silverware to garland their golden generation. His sevens stint proved how he can transform a team’s culture – he may not have been the hosts’ best pure player at Paris 2024 but like all sporting greats, he has an ability to conjure a moment of magic out of thin air. There are some in France who feel his sevens sojourn may have made him even better.

“He brings an aura with him which carries the French squad, which is important,” coach Fabien Galthie explained ahead of this Six Nations. There is a Lionel Messi-like quality to Dupont’s game in his ability to disprove the rules of rugby and make a questionable decision right with his invention and physical superiority. By no means a big man, Dupont possesses exceptional power in a compact frame and bursts away from contact like few others.

Take the creation of Theo Attissogbe’s two tries against Wales. For the first, Dupont dummies to a pod of forwards waiting to carry before weaving backwards and sideways. This should invite the defensive line on to him but a subtle feint holds them, with a further backward step opening room for a delicate dab of a crossfield kick. For the young wing’s second, Dupont spots the Welsh defence rushing more quickly up on the pod of carriers and darts past them, shaking off the attentions of Dafydd Jenkins. A vicious left-footed step bamboozles Liam Williams, one of the most secure defensive full-backs of the last decade, before the scrum-half hurls a pass virtually over his head to tee up Attissogbe as two defenders envelop him.

‘It’s his ability to get out of trouble,” England attack coach, and former scrum half, Richard Wigglesworth outlines. “I’ve never seen anything like it. The ball will bobble out of a ruck, and it’s not perfect, but he somehow gets a ball popped out when he shouldn’t do. He rarely gets tackled, and the ball rarely stays static. He will bounce out, beat three defenders and put a cross-kick in. Or he’ll shrug you off, keep the ball moving. I’ve never seen anyone get out of trouble as well as him.”.

His skills of improvisation are crucial to France’s gameplan, using heavy forwards as one-out runners or on the pick-and-go before allowing Dupont the freedom to exploit any fissures that the blasters create. It is a method also favoured by club Toulouse, who possess many of the same thumping forwards as France; while possessing dynamic backs, Toulouse play wider than the first receiver at the fifth-lowest rate in the Top 14 this season.

It can be seen in the stats from the opening round of this Six Nations, too. According to insights from Sage, Dupont’s average depth of pass of 1.81 metres was the shallowest among all scrum-halves, evidence of how France use their power carriers close in to punch central holes. France’s playmakers are then given the licence to play eyes-up rugby, with the natural cohesion of a Toulousain spine aiding them.

South Africa’s Cheslin Kolbe thrived alongside Dupont, Romain Ntamack and Thomas Ramos during his time at the French club between 2017 and 2021, and recalls duelling with the scrum-half in certain scenarios in training. “Especially during training, times that were loose we would always find ourselves against one another,” the Springbok tells The Independent. “I’d step him, he’d step me. We’d always try and challenge each other.