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26% of vote nets Antoine Dupont player of the Six Nations award

(Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

France scrum-half Antoine Dupont has become only the second player to win a third Six Nations player of the year award, matching the feat achieved by Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll in 2009. The French No9 was part of a six-strong shortlist that was evenly divided between three French players and three Irish.

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Upwards of 138,000 fans took part in the online vote along with international media, and the decision eventually went the way of Dupont who had previously won the title in 2020 and 2022.

A statement read: “Antoine Dupont, the France and Stade Toulousain scrum-half, has been named the 2023 Guinness Six Nations player of the championship after fans were asked to vote from a shortlist of six nominees.

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“This takes Dupont’s award tally up to three, having claimed the prize in 2020 and 2022. Dupont is the second player in the award’s history to claim the title three times, putting him alongside Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll, who won the award in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

“The shortlist for this year’s Six Nations player of the championship was dominated by France and Ireland players, with three names per nation making the shortlist. International media and fans had their say on who should be in the running for the hotly anticipated award, with fan votes also contributing towards the 2023 team of the championship.

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“Dupont was joined on the player of the championship shortlist by Toulouse teammate and France full-back Thomas Ramos, plus prolific try-scoring winger Damian Penaud who plays his club rugby for Clermont Auvergne.

“Three standout names from the Ireland team that went on to secure a Grand Slam title completed the shortlist. Leinster’s Caelan Doris and Hugo Keenan were accompanied by Connacht winger Mack Hansen, making it a blue and green list of names being put to a fan vote.

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“With over 138,000 fans having their say to decide the Six Nations player of the championship, it was Dupont that received 26 per cent of the votes, earning the coveted award for the third time, as well as a place in the team of the championship.”

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AllyOz 1 hour ago
Has Quade Cooper solved a Lions riddle for Australia?

I also think that the lack of layers in the Australian system and the short season length also contributes to our lack of player development. All of the “three amigos” were in the Australian side from a very early age. We have Super Rugby but it is only 15 weeks long now (if you don’t make the finals - which our sides don’t typically do). And we only have 4 - 5 teams so, for 10s, there is only 1 or 2 spots up for grabs and one player is going to get most of the time. I imagine, in Europe where you have a longer season and then European Championship and then, in France, also a professional division below, a player of ability will get more than 15 games at the top level. There are tiers to progress through etc. The current 10 for France, on the All Blacks tour, has had 120 Top 14 games - we are putting blokes into a Wallabies squad after one or two good seasons (30 SR games at the most) and for others, like Sua’ali’i even sooner (but he did play at a high level in another code so he has had some time to develop).


We lack a tier or level, where players can develop that other comps have so that (1) they don’t need to be thrown in early (2) if they take a bit longer to develop there is a place for them to do it. You either have a place in one of the 4 (previously 5) sides or you go overseas, or you play at an amateur level. And also, you don’t have to push an older player out because, if you reach 24 or 25 and you haven’t made the Wallabies (or you aren’t a regular) then the prospect of playing OS is too financially enticing.

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A
AllyOz 1 hour ago
Has Quade Cooper solved a Lions riddle for Australia?

Quade has a lot of very supportive fans, and also, in Australia (and definitely in NZ), there are those that do not like him as a player. I do think his coaches were responsible for him not getting a run when he was at his peak, Cheika didn’t appear to be a fan, giving him only one pool game in the World Cup (or very few chances anyway) but I think Quade also must have had issues in fitting in with coaches (or certain types of coaches). I also think there was a long period of his career where he played injured and was off his best. And he sat out a full season of SR to play club rugby rather than leave Queensland, when he fell out of favour with Thorn. He didn’t seem to settle in at Toulon, or the Melbourne Rebels really either and then he went to Kintetsu where he was in a team that was either bottom of the top grade or top of the next grade down, where, I imagine, it is difficult to get a feel of a players value to the national team. There are two (or more) sides to everyone of those stories.


I was in the group that probably was never a fan. I can’t really say why. When I look back on his highlight reel, there were moments of sheer brilliance and he took the Reds to a Championship win against the Crusader. But I guess I always viewed him as high risk and I am not sure that, prior to 2021, we ever saw his best. We had Foley as a long term 10 under Cheika, and also Matt Toomua and Christian Leilafano. Quade Cooper was easily the most skilful of any of those, but whether or not his own judgement or his ability/willingness to follow the coaches/teams plan was ever at the level of some of those other players, I am not sure. In some way I see him as a Finn Russell type, who doesn’t always appear to get along with some coaches but I am not sure it is always the coaches fault. I think Quade had the confidence that, if he thought he was right he would not be deterred from following that and I imagine some coaches (and not just bad ones) struggle with that if they are seeing different pictures from where they are watching.


I think he makes some good points. I really don’t understand the reluctance to pick James O’Connor and I think he makes a good point about changing coaches. I agree that there is a sameness to each of the 10s we have at the moment.


However, if we are talking about the last decade, we did have Michael Cheika as the coach from late 2014 to 2019 - so that is half the decade. Since then we have had 3 coaches in 6 years.


I do understand the charge about having lost our playing identity and I think he is right that we have perhaps fallen for the trick of trying to jump on the latest trend or copying what has been successful elsewhere and hoping that it works for us. But I am not sure how he personally would go as a coach. I see a bit of a similarity to Gregor Townsend personality wise but that is just a guess - Gregor has done OK.


I hope Quade doesn’t become the David Campese of his generation and getting involved in coaching might be a way to avoid that. It is interesting that he has written these articles in the Australian as they have been a bit anti-Rugby in Australia after they missed out on the broadcast rights.

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