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Antoine Dupont rewarded for impressive year with Rugby Union Writers' Club award

(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

France scrum-half Antoine Dupont has been voted the Rugby Union Writers’ Club’s personality of the year for 2021.

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Dupont succeeds Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter as holder of the Pat Marshall Memorial Award following an outstanding 12 months for Les Bleus and Toulouse, the club he helped to a Heineken Champions Cup and Top 14 double.

The current World Rugby player of the year has continued to redefine scrum-half play through the excellence of his running and kicking games, generalship and defence.

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Rob Kearney and Alfie Barbeary – A Lion and a Wasp | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 17

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      Rob Kearney and Alfie Barbeary – A Lion and a Wasp | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 17

      The 25-year-old has also emerged as a leader for France, captaining them last autumn in a successful series that included a first home victory over New Zealand since 2009.

      Dupont follows in the footsteps of greats of the game to have been acclaimed by the RUWC such as Gareth Edwards, Jonah Lomu, Martin Johnson, Jonny Wilkinson, Brian O’Driscoll, Maggie Alphonsi and Dan Carter.

      France hope that their star scrum half will have recovered from a knee injury in time to play a part in the Six Nations.

      The Stade Toulouse no.9 has missed plenty of action in recent weeks, but after being named in his country’s Six Nations squad was reported to be close to making a comeback.

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      However, with his club’s European Champions Cup visit to Cardiff falling victim to a controversial COVID cancellation, Dupont was unable to make his first appearance of 2022.

      Les Bleus will be handed a significant boost should the outstanding playmaker be able to play a full part in their preparations for the tournament ahead of France’s opening clash with Italy which takes place on Sunday February 6th.

      Dupont captained France for the first time in the autumn in Charles Ollivon’s absence and could continue with the armband given that the regular skipper is absent from Fabien Galthie’s squad while making a long-term recovery from knee problems.

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      SK 56 minutes ago
      Harness Skelton's might and move Sua'ali'i: How the Wallabies can fix things for Test two

      That fighting Aussie spirit really served them well last week when they were down 24-5 early in the second, to rally back to 27-19 and dominate the last quarter was really impressive. I dont subscribe to the thought that the Lions took their foot off the gas. The Lions are not flawless. This group goes through periods in matches where they run riot and then through other periods where their game almost devolves as they try to play too much and lose all momentum falling flat. The strongest most consistent part of their game is their defence. I feel like the weakest part could be their set piece especially that creaky scrum which really should be doing better against Australia. If this Lions side was playing against the Springboks or All Blacks they would not be winning collisions and their set piece would be under serious scrutiny. Australia must try to do better in the collisions and put more pressure on the Lions set piece. They must bring line speed and power to their defence. They cannot afford to give up any soft tries and they must bring urgency at the start of the game. They need to force the Lions to play on their terms and to play from behind. If the Lions race out to an early lead all bets are off, if they keep momentum for a protracted period the game will be up. Australia must spoil, harass, frustrate and compete in every ruck, maul, scrum and lineout. Its time to face the Lions head on.

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