Full card for Antoine Dupont: the scrum half from Toulouse and the XV of France was named best player in the Top 14 and best Blue of last season Monday evening during Rugby Night. The native of Lannemezan, with 52 caps for the French team, had already signed this same double two years ago. “It obviously validates the work and the fact of not just having a good season, but of managing to string them together,” he reacted after receiving his trophies during the ceremony organized at the Olympia.
Antoine Dupont succeeds Zach Mercer
In the Top 14, he succeeds Montpellier’s English third row Zach Mercer, crowned best player in the championship last season and has since moved to Gloucester. The No.9 from Stade Toulouse also won the title of best French international for the third time in a row, this year ahead of La Rochelle third row Grégory Alldritt and Clermont and then Bordeaux-Bègles winger Damian Penaud. “Having the recognition of your peers, whether it’s the other players who elect me, it’s true that it means a lot and it’s always nice to feel recognized by the people we play against every weekend” , added Dupont.
A leading figure in French rugby, captain of the Blues, quarter-finalists of the 2023 World Cup, ‘AD9’ will join, from January, the group which will prepare the sevens rugby event for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, making in fact the impasse on the next edition of the Six Nations Tournament. The Rouge et Noir, reigning French champions, completed their raid with the best staff trophy, awarded to Ugo Mola, Laurent Thuéry, Clément Poitrenaud and Jean Bouilhou. Then that of the best try, scored by the opening half Romain Ntamack, in the final of the Top 14, in front of La Rochelle (29-26), at the end of a crazy race.
Oyonnax pillar Thomas Laclayat, who joined Racing 92 this summer, was named best player in Pro D2 while young Pau center Emilien Gailleton was the revelation of last season. Blagnac center Gabrielle Vernier, who was named one of World Rugby’s best players of the year, won the title of best international.