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'It's taken 50 years to be compared with somebody': Gareth Edwards on Antoine Dupont
By Josh Raisey
Welsh legend Gareth Edwards has said that it has taken 50 years for a player to be compared to him, but has no problem with the comparison that is now being made with newly crowned World Rugby men’s sevens player of the year Antoine Dupont.
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The 10-cap British and Irish Lions scrum-half has listed the Frenchman as the number one player from the Six Nations era that he would have liked to have played alongside, describing him as “an outstanding all-round footballer”.
Joining Mike Bubbins on the BBC’s ‘Scrum V Top 5’, Edwards made the list which included Finn Russell, Sergio Parisse, Martin Johnson and Brian O’Driscoll.
Edwards is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and had long been deemed the game’s greatest ever scrum-half. But Dupont has crept into that conversation in recent years, with his Olympic gold medal last summer only helping his cause.
The Welshman is unperturbed by his long-held mantle being under threat though.
On the prospect of the two playing alongside each other, Edwards feels they could both interchange between No 9 and No 10, adding that the Toulouse star is “good enough to play outside-half, centre, full-back.”
“I’ve enjoyed watching him play,” the 53-cap Wales international added. “Lots of his play from broken play is outstanding, so that in itself shows me that he has an attribute that doesn’t just confine him to one position.
“Antoine is an outstanding all-round footballer. In actual fact, we could interact and interchange- he might start off as scrum-half and I might start off as an outside-half.
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“Over the last two or three years I’ve been invited out to Paris to present their player of the season which is inevitably Antoine. So I’ve enjoyed presenting him with his award for another outstanding season.
“It’s taken 50 years to be compared with somebody, so be it. Long may he continue playing well.”
Go behind the scenes of both camps during the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021. Binge watch exclusively on RugbyPass TV now
If you say Dupont is one of the best EVER, where does DAN CARTER rank?
Numerous Super Rugby titles.
Numerous Tri-Nations titles.
Rugby World Cup winner.
B&I Lions Series winner.
I see the Dupont recency bias is still in effect.
No mate. You and Sid Going were compared 50 yrs ago.
Who?
JvDW very, very good, but Gareth and Antoine definitely the top two and difficult to separate them.
I think the sevens stint has skewed opinion on du Pont. Sure he's one of the best ever but imagine what Gareth or Joost would have done on a seven's pitch. Admittedly he was nursing a fractured cheek bone but du Pont wasn't great under real pressure at the Wc or in the Paris game where 14 Boks very nearly beat France. Also his style of play suits the way the French play. In a different era, different rules or in a different team it's impossible to say how good he would have been. So really it's an extremely moot discussion.
I think you will find Joist van Der Westhuizen was just as good if not better than both of them.
RIP
As a Bok supporter I have to state that Gareth Edwards was certainly the best no 9 ever. That includes Joost as well as Dupont.
A fine player indeed and a top 10 all time great scrum half, but not a hope is he in these two lads league.