France captain Antoine Dupont criticised the refereeing after his side crashed out of the Rugby World Cup after defeat to South Africa. Image: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP
Antoine Dupont insists France won’t give up on Six Nations
Antoine Dupont believes France will react well following their big opening Six Nations defeat to Ireland in Marseille.
France captain Antoine Dupont criticised the refereeing after his side crashed out of the Rugby World Cup after defeat to South Africa. Image: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP
Scrum-half Antoine Dupont stated on Saturday that he believes France will react well following their big opening Six Nations defeat to Ireland.
Dupont, the regular captain, will skip the event to join France’s seven-a-side squad ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris this summer.
Antoine Dupont insists France won’t give up
Les Bleus’ title aspirations are already dangling by a thread ahead of their trip to Scotland next week, after losing 38-17 in Marseille.
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For Ireland it was the first step towards achieving back-to-back Grand Slams but France will want to keepm the heat on Andy Farrell’s men.
Dupont admitted that it was tough for him to watch France struggle as they did, albeit in a match that was closer than the score suggested.
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“It was hard to see France in such difficulty,” Dupont told Canal+.
“It was a step too much, we threw too many spanners in the works.
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“I’m not worried for the boys, they’re a squad with character and ambition and I’m sure they’ll bounce back for the next match in Scotland,” he added.
Missing the maestro
Since his test debut in 2017, Dupont has been a key member of the France squad, leading the team to a devastating Rugby World Cup quarterfinal loss to eventual victors South Africa at home last year.
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Dupont, a former World Rugby player of the year, played his last 15-a-side game in almost a month on Saturday before beginning his Olympic preparations.
He is scheduled to compete in the Vancouver (23-25 February) and Los Angeles (2-3 March) legs of the World Rugby SVNS circuit in the following weeks, with the men’s sevens tournament at the Olympics coming at the end of July.
“There’s a lot of excitement, a bit of worry too,” Dupont said after Toulouse’s win over Bayonne.
“It’s a really motivating challenge which I will approach in a studious way to learn first up and then quickly perform well.”
