Gibson-Park 'easily the best half-back in the world' over Dupont: Genia

Antoine Dupont is a player who, for many, has entered the ‘greatest of all time’ conversation over the past year, but for Will Genia, he isn’t even the best player currently in his position. That title has been bestowed on Jamison Gibson-Park by the Australian.

The Ireland and Leinster No.9 has been heralded as “easily the best half-back in the world” by the former Wallabies captain, who once held that title himself during the salad days of his career.

Joining fellow scrum-half Ben Youngs on the For The Love of Rugby podcast recently, the Hanazono Kintetsu Liners star outlined what he thinks makes a great scrum-half, and why Gibson-Park fits the bill.

The 43-cap Ireland international would have been one of the first names in Andy Farrell’s recently-named British and Irish Lions squad, and Genia believes that there is no debate as to who the best scrum-half is in the squad.

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“I think he’s easily the best half-back in the world,” the 110-cap Wallaby said.

“Dupont’s an athletic freak, there’s never been anyone like him, he’s incredibly skilful.

“My favourite half-backs coming through the game were guys like yourself [Youngs], Aaron Smith, Fourie du Preez, guys with real sense of skill and finesse and ability to act as a playmaker as a half-back as well. I’m not saying Dupont doesn’t do that, not at all, but when I watch Gibson-Park, he reminds me of guys like yourself.

“He’s real smooth with the way he plays the game, he’s real decisive, he’s got great vision, excellent skills. For me, he’s definitely the best half-back in the world. I think it would be him and Dupont, but I think he’s one of the big reasons why Ireland are so successful and Ireland are so good. He gives them tempo, he gives them direction, he rarely makes mistakes and he performs at an 8, 9 out of 10 every week.

“He’s world class, I don’t even think it’s a debate as to who the best half-back is for the Lions.

“He certainly looks like he always has time on the ball. He’ll be sitting at the back of a ruck and he’s got his hands on the ball and he’s assessing in one or two seconds what decision he’s going to make. The one way he really reminds me of Fourie du Preez is he would make the right decision nine times out of ten. When I watch someone like Gibson-Park, he has that same ability that he’s always making the right decisions. He’s not overplaying his hand, he’s playing almost two or three moments ahead of everyone else. I can’t speak highly enough of him.

“Dupont is an absolute freak. It’s probably a case of he’s doing all these things and he’s so good that he’s doing it consistently so we’re like ‘let’s look at someone else,’ but I’m a big, big fan of Gibson-Park.

“Dupont is an all-time great, I’m not going to sit on here and disrespect him in that way. But I think that Gibson-Park is the best half-back in the world.”