Despite more than three decades of coaching at the highest level, Guy Novès claims never to have had under his orders a French player as talented as Antoine Dupont. And among foreign players, he has only one example in mind.
Antoine Dupont marked the spirits a little more on Saturday, during the recital of the Blues against England (53-10). Observers have been full of praise for him, especially in England where analysts have competed in superlatives about the tricolor scrum-half. “It’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane at the same time”, notably launched Matt Dawson at the microphone of Radio 5, the former English international, adding to this by explaining: “A while ago he was off the ruck, he turned around and he scanned the field in a phenomenal way. It was like watching Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator, it was almost digital…”
But observers were just as ecstatic on this side of the Channel. Witness the comments made by Guy Novès at the microphone of Eurosport. “In thirty years of coaching, I have never seen such a complete French player. Among foreign players, perhaps Byron Kelleher was still a phenomenon on the pitch. But Antoine still has this ability to make differences that others are incapable of.thus confided the former tricolor coach.
The figure of the Toulouse stadium is particularly impressed by his ability to thwart defenses. “Beyond the classic scrum-half game, the management of the game, his magnificent footwork, an extraordinary courage, this boy is able to pass in holes where no one can pass. We think we’ve caught it, but we don’t. We use our arms and all of a sudden, he is no longer there. To see him, we immediately thought that he would become a very great player, which he is indeed today.he pointed out.
