'That is what differentiates him': Brian O'Driscoll has singled out what makes Antoine Dupont a rugby superstar up there with football's Messi
Brian O’Driscoll believes rugby’s superstar players, the likes of France and Toulouse scrum-half Antoine Dupont, are doing an immense job in keeping sports fans royally entertained during this era of behind closed doors matches. Rugby switched into European competition last weekend following an unexpectedly uplifting Guinness Six Nations and the level of club action didn’t disappoint.
O’Driscoll himself was in Limerick watching the France star Dupont in person as he scored two tries in the round of 16 Heineken Champions Cup win by Toulouse over Munster.
The BT Sport rugby pundit felt privileged to witness the game-deciding contribution served up by the French half-back, believing individual performances such as this will ensure eyeballs remain firmly fixed on the sport when it heads into quarter-finals weekend in a few days’ time.
Asked what he was enjoying most about rugby in these pandemic times, O’Driscoll told RugbyPass. “A reduction of box-kicks. Other than that you are seeing some outstanding individual performers at the moment, really excelling consistently.
“If you think about the weekend (just gone) you’re thinking about the likes of Antoine Dupont, you’re talking about (Romain) Ntamack and you have got the emergence of some of the young blood as well, unknown players in Europe, the likes of Gavin Coombes who had a really strong performance for Munster in a defeat.
OH WHAT A STEP! ?
Toulouse at their blistering best as Matthis Lebel leaves his defender in the dust before feeding Antoine Dupont!
Wait for the slow-mo, that is just rude ?#HeinekenChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/4ZHjDB9WnQ
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) April 3, 2021
“I just feel as though some of the superstars are really stepping up to the plate and giving us reasons to watch the game, their performances alone. That’s what you need. You look at football the whole time – anyone would watch Barcelona because of Messi and we [rugby] need superstar players to be able to play at a different level than everybody else for us to just go and watch and have a player cam on them for the game because of what they are capable of doing.”
France No9 Dupont put Munster to the sword coming down the finishing straight in Limerick, the half-back taking advantage of some smart lines of running to play to be available to latch onto possession of score some crucial tries. “That’s not anything particularly new, it’s just that there are so many linebreaks coming from Toulouse and France that he picks up so many easy tries – but scrum-halves have been doing that for years.
“It’s just he probably is a little bit better at reading it and also you have to have the fitness levels to get there. He is supremely fit. It’s one thing wanting to do it, it’s another thing doing it when you have gone through 15 or 20 phases and you have been the scrum-half for every single one of them.
“That is exhausting, throwing good quality passing, but then running a positive trailing line to pick up that try or pick up that break and offload it, you have got to have a real mental toughness and ability to stay in the fight and that is what differentiates him.
“Everyone sees the skill and everyone sees what he is able to do early on in phases, the lovely flick passes and everything, but it is actually staying in the fight longer than everybody else is sometimes the winning and losing and the scoring of tries or missing opportunities.”
- BT Sport is the home of the Heineken Champions Cup with every single match live. Watch all the action from the quarter-finals – including Exeter Chiefs v Leinster – next Saturday and Sunday, April 10 and 11, on BT Sport 2
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments