Antoine Dupont officially completes rugby with freakish manhandling to save try
There are many, many things that make Antoine Dupont probably the best player in the world, but his defence is not necessarily one of them. It is not really a weakness, but it is not a strength, until now.
Ireland’s Mack Hansen would certainly attest that the France scrum-half’s defence is not too shabby.
After an interception from Ireland, Hansen collected the ball from the floor just feet from the France line. The odds were heavily stacked in the winger’s favour for him to score, he basically just needed to collapse over the line. But Dupont out of nowhere was not only able to hold him up, but actually dragged him backwards.
A manhandling like that has not been seen from Dupont before, and only supports the case that he is the best player in the world currently.
Take a look at the tackle from Dupont:
Le maintien de l'ordre façon Dupont. #IRLFRA #IREvFRA pic.twitter.com/DySh9rBz2C
— Margaux Baralon (@MargauxBaralon) February 11, 2023
Ireland XV
15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD) 26 caps
14. Mack Hansen (Connacht/Corinthians) 10 caps
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD) 48 caps
12. Stuart McCloskey (Ulster/Bangor) 10 caps
11. James Lowe (Leinster) 16 caps
10. Johnny Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 110 caps (c)
9. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen) 101 caps
1. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 32 caps
3. Finlay Bealham (Connacht/Buccaneers) 28 caps
4. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne) 37 caps
5. James Ryan (Leinster/UCD) 49 caps
6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution) 90 caps
7. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD) 46 caps
8. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College) 24 caps
Replacements
16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne) 18 caps
17. Dave Kilcoyne (Munster/UL Bohemians) 49 caps
18. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch) 5 caps
19. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy) 69 caps
20. Jack Conan (Leinster/Old Belvedere) 34 caps
21. Craig Casey (Munster/Shannon) 8 caps
22. Ross Byrne (Leinster/UCD) 15 caps
23. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians) 42 caps
France XV
15 Thomas Ramos
14 Damian Penaud
13 Gaël Fickou
12 Yoram Moefana
11 Ethan Dumortier
10 Romain Ntamack
9 Antoine Dupont (c)
1 Cyril Baille
2 Julien Marchand
3 Uini Atonio
4 Thibaud Flament
5 Paul Willemse
6 Anthony Jelonch
7 Charles Ollivon
8 Grégory Alldritt
Replacements
16 Gaëtan Barlot
17 Reda Wardi
18 Sipili Falatea
19 Romain Taofifenua
20 François Cros
21 Sekou Macalou
22 Baptiste Couilloud
23 Matthieu Jalibert
