Watch: The magic pass by Antoine Dupont that has the rugby world in awe
France took a stranglehold on this year's Six Nations by beating a highly fancied contender, Ireland, by 30-24 at home in Paris in the second round.
Led by star halves duo Antoine Dupont and Romain Ntamack, it didn't take long for the newly crowned World Rugby Player of the Year to make an impact, combining with his flyhalf in the third minute to score the opening try of the game.
The Toulouse scrumhalf has elevated his status to one of the game's must watch players with the way he is able to produce plays that seem impossible. His latest showing of brilliance was a laser beam of a pass that has stunned the rugby world.
Dupont whipped a 25 metre bullet across three Irish defenders after a short step from the ruck. The miss pass from the base of the ruck hit Damian Penaud perfectly on time and on the chest.
One Twitter user noted that referee Angus Gardner had just asked the Irish line, in particular Jamison Gibson-Park, to retreat as they were offside, meaning the defenders were on their heels and unlikely to make a play on the ball for the intercept.
Another noticed the call from Penaud come just before the pass was made with a small hand movement to let Dupont know the space was there for the long ball.
The high angle shot shows just how perfect the ball was, flying flat for 24 metres perfectly into the path of the French winger.
The pass didn't go unnoticed by fans, with many lavishing praise on Dupont's skills. One English fan was jealous of the French star, saying 'Dupont is what we wish Ben Youngs was'.
Despite the win, Dupont said France isn't getting carried away as they have been in this position before over the last two tournaments only to have their title hopes derailed by losses to Scotland.
“We’re not going to talk about a Grand Slam for now,” Dupont said.
“We’re going to concentrate on the next match, the challenge we’re expecting,” he added.
They have finished runners up in the tournament on the past two occasions, in 2020 they travelled to Murrayfield with three big wins under their belt and were soundly beaten which ended up costing them the title as England managed to climb back.
In 2021 a tight loss to England in the third round was critical, before a last round upset at home against Scotland confirmed the title would go elsewhere.
“I think we have all learnt from the last two editions where we maybe lost the tournament after defeats to Scotland,” Dupont said.
“We know their team well. We will prepare this match, hoping we will be able to play for something nice in a months’ time.”
France have to play Scotland and Wales away over the next two rounds before a final round clash in Paris against England.
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This will be Schmidt's 13th game as Wallaby coach ..........
Eddie Jones only coached the Wallabies for 9 games in his last stint.
Go to commentsWhat a complete load of .......
And black is now white.
“Somehow, Schmidt has selected more debutants than ever but the team seems more settled than ever.”
"The Wallabies have used a lot of players, they have made a number of changes from game to game, yet fans have a strong feeling of stability around Schmidt’s selections.
"Schmidt has spoken all year about incremental improvements, and his consistency of selection has really seen the combinations and confidence build within the squad over this northern series."
Where do make this stuff up ? Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory ?
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