Antoine Dupont’s stunning Toulouse return leaves Bordeaux star ‘miserable’ even in victory

Jared Wright
Antoine Dupont setting up a try in the Top 14 match between Bordeaux Begles and Toulouse. (via Canal+)

Antoine Dupont setting up a try in the Top 14 match between Bordeaux Begles and Toulouse. (via Canal+)

Antoine Dupont starred on his return for Toulouse on Sunday in the Top 14 match against Bordeaux following his stint with the France 7s team.

The 27-year-old was set for a brief cameo off the bench in the crunch Top 14 clash but was thrown into the action in the opening five minutes after an injury to Thomas Ramos.

This left Dupont playing the rest of the fixture at fly-half in his first game back to the XVs game since early February, after which he linked up with the SVNS team and guided them to their first title in 19 years.

Antoine Dupont shines on his return

Despite the earlier-than-expected introduction to the action, Dupont shone in the thrilling 31-28 loss to Bordeaux.

The former World Rugby Player of the Year put on a show, making more meters (144) and beating more defenders (8) than any other player in the match. He also topped the carry count (23) and made the joint-most offloads (4).

He also produced a viral moment in the match with a brilliant try assist for winger Matthis Lebel, fending off one defender and drew in another three as he darted across the pitch and produced a wonderful reverse offload to the speedster who stepped Maxime Lucu to score.

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It was an action-packed performance from the France superstar, who also made this stellar break from inside his own half, carving through the Bordeaux defence.

Meanwhile, Bordeaux hooker Maxime Lamothe almost got the better of the half-back as he attempted to side-step Dupont and race over in the corner.

But Dupont would not be beaten that easily as he managed to get his arms on the front rower and dislodged the ball from his grasp as he lunged towards the try line.

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Ends in defeat

Despite Dupont’s best efforts, Bordeaux would finally get a long-awaited win over Toulouse, claiming their first victory after five successive defeats.

Tries from Yoram Moefana, Tevita Tatafu, Damian Penaud, and Romain Buros gave Bordeaux a 24-7 lead at half-time – Jack Willis scoring for Toulouse.

They would, however, allow the visitors back into the game with Pita Ahki and Lebel (twice) crossing the whitewash before Pierre Bochaton sealed the win for Bordeaux.

After sustaining an injury in the Six Nations match against Italy, Matthieu Jalibert returned to action for Bordeaux and despite struggling with tonsillitis during the week, he made his return for Bordeaux.

His frustrations during the week extended into the weekend when he had to front up against Dupont.

“Tonight was a huge match, like every time we played Toulouse,” he told RugbyRama after the match.

“There is so much quality in both teams that fans and viewers have been waiting for this match. We made a big start, we wanted to rack up a big lead. But at halftime, we knew that we had already lost a match where we led by almost 30 points, so we were warned.

“They have such exceptional players, like Antoine Dupont who did not stop making us miserable this evening… What is important this evening was the character to come back ten minutes from the end because it was complicated to do it and we did it, that’s the mark of a great team.”

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France Antoine Dupont Matthieu Jalibert

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