Six Nations: Antoine Dupont 'always had it' - Joe El-Abd
2025-02-07
Category: sports

Guinness Men's Six Nations: England v FranceDate: Saturday, 8 February Kick-off: 16:45 GMT Venue: Allianz Stadium, TwickenhamCoverage: Listen on BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds and follow live text commentary and highlights on the BBC Sport website and app.
England defence coach Joe El-Abd says Antoine Dupont has been on a trajectory towards greatness since he worked with the France captain as a teenager.El-Abd spent four years coaching at Castres, a time that coincided with the emergence of Dupont in the Top 14."We knew where he was going to go. It was spoken about in the dressing room, even in France, that there was a player coming through that there was going to be something a bit different," said El-Abd on Friday."We saw the talent was there right away. So he's always had it, but aligned with the work that he puts in, it was always going to come to this."We need to put him under as much pressure as possible so we don't see those moments tomorrow."
Dupont, 28, set up three tries in France's 43-0 opening-round win over Wales and his side are heavy favourites for Saturday's meeting with England at Allianz Stadium.El-Abd says that England need to dig deep mentally, as well as physically, to contain a France side that also carries the threat of in-form Bordeaux-Begles wings Damian Penaud and Louis Bielle Biarrey."Their attack is pretty complete, they have got threats all over the pitch," he added."We need to be ready to concentrate every single second in the game. If we can do that, I'm sure that we can have a good game tomorrow."
'He's like everyone else â you take his legs and he goes down'
Wing Tommy Freeman will be conscious of Dupont's ability to expose over-eager defences with cross-field kicks, but insists that England should not be in awe of the talismanic scrum-half."You can't overestimate how good a player he is, but he's human. He's like everyone else â you take his legs and he goes down," Freeman said."It's all about picking things up nice and early with him and putting him under pressure."I'm sure like any other player, when you put pressure on them they start to leak a few opportunities."England attack coach and former scrum-half Richard Wigglesworth highlighted Dupont's ability to turn the tables on a defence, launching attacks when apparently close to losing possession and territory, as one of his greatest assets."I've never seen anyone get out of trouble as well as him," said Wigglesworth."The ball will bobble out of a ruck, and it's not perfect, but he somehow gets a ball popped out when he shouldn't do. He rarely gets tackled, and the ball rarely stays static."He will bounce out, beat three defenders and put a cross-kick in. Or he'll shrug you off, keep the ball moving."France are hunting a fourth successive win over England in the tournament â a run that would be their best in the fixture since 1978. Meanwhile, England need a shock victory to improve a grim run of recent results, with eight losses, admittedly each by single-figure margins, in their past 13 Tests.