A new phrase has recently entered the lexicon of French rugby: ‘Dupont bashing’. It was first deployed by Ugo Mola, the head coach at Toulouse, when asked last month about the rehabilitation of Antoine Dupont. The scrum-half ruptured his cruciate ligaments playing for France against Ireland in March and hopes to return before the end of the year.
According to a report in Monday’s Midi Olympique, the 28-year-old has his sights set on Toulouse’s trip to play Montauban on November 22 for his comeback match.
In the meantime Dupont has been working hard to rebuild his knee, which has included visiting a renowned clinic in Qatar to undergo some intense strength and conditioning. But there’s only so much rehab a man (and a knee) can take. Everyone needs some downtime, a spot of R&R, to unwind.
Dupont was seen out and about during the summer, often in the company of Iris Mittenaere, a TV personality and former winner of Miss Universe. Television cameras picked them out watching the tennis at Roland Garros and strolling down the red carpet at the Cannes film festival. The pair were also pictured in the pages of celebrity magazines, enjoying the sun in Spain, Italy, and LA.
Dupont has been criticised in certain quarters for attending high-profile sporting events like the French Open while recuperating (Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)
For a minority, the spiteful and resentful, this was a sure sign that Dupont had lost his focus and was now more celebrity than scrum-half. Negative comments appeared on social media, which prompted Mola to come to the defence of Dupont. “On days when he’s not on social media, he may be training and we’re not filming him,” said Mola. “We shouldn’t interpret things that seem commonplace and fall into the trap of ‘Dupont bashing’ that we’re seeing at the moment.”
Mola considered Dupont “lucky” to have the chance to lap it up in Cannes or enjoy a spot of tennis in Paris. The life of a top-class rugby player in France leaves little opportunity to kick back, other than a few weeks in July. “We have a system in place whereby as soon as a player is injured for more than six to eight weeks, part of his rehabilitation or re-athletization does not take place at the club…players can seek expertise elsewhere but also allow themselves to have a kind of freshness.”
As any professional athlete knows, the misery of serious injury isn’t just physical, it’s also emotional. Suddenly you’re raison d’être is gone. Like a writer not being able to write for nine months or a builder not being able to build.
As any professional athlete knows, the misery of serious injury isn’t just physical, it’s also emotional. Suddenly you’re raison d’être is gone. Like a writer not being able to write for nine months or a builder not being able to build. When Dan Cole suffered a serious neck injury in 2014, the Leicester and England prop described his ten months in rehab as “massively boring”. He continued: “Your daily routine is gone so you’ve basically got nothing to get up for in the morning…I wasn’t doing weights and you can’t really do any rehab on your neck at that point, because the medics don’t want you to activate your neck muscles, so it was boring – massively boring.”
Fine prop that Cole was, he was never a rugby superstar so the offers of some best seats in the house at tennis tournaments and film festivals probably didn’t come flooding in. Dupont, however, arguably rugby’s greatest talent, is a household name in France and event organisers know that having him on their invite list is good for their image.
Antoine Dupont has been out since early March and is expected back at the end of Novembe(Photo Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)
What’s wrong with accepting the odd freebie? Nothing, says Max Guazzini, the man credited with giving French rugby a showbiz makeover two decades ago. Guazzini glamourised Stade Francais when he was president, introducing the pink playing shirts and the cheerleaders, and attracting a new audience that culminated in a crowd of nearly 80,000 to watch Stade Francais play Toulouse at the Stade de France in 2005.
“People who criticize Antoine Dupont because he appears in magazines or on social media are imbeciles,” said Guazzini in a recent interview. “The whole rugby world should be happy to have Antoine Dupont. He’s pleasant and he’s charismatic.”
‘Dupont-bashing’ is a French phenomenon, and evidence that it’s not just in the Anglophone world where sullen people like to cut down tall poppies.
He’s right. It is idiotic to criticise Dupont, a player who has given so much to his club and his country in the last decade. Rugby has very genuine superstars, players who would be recognised if they strolled along the streets of Paris, London or Sydney. The ones it has should be cherished because they will help grow the game in an increasingly competitive sports market.
‘Dupont-bashing’ is a French phenomenon, and evidence that it’s not just in the Anglophone world where sullen people like to cut down tall poppies. In Britain they love him, to the point where a recent photo of Dupont training in an LA gym under a giant Red Bull logo caused considerable excitement.
Dupont is expected back in Toulouse colours for the Champions Cup and will stay in the Pink City unless a club like Newcastle Red Bulls can entice him to the Gallagher PREM (Photo Sam Barnes/Getty Images)
Even the normally sober Times wondered if this wasn’t a sign from the Gods that before long Dupont would be joining Newcastle Red Bulls. We can all dream.
When I interviewed Dupont in 2019 I asked if he might be tempted to one day play in England? He grinned. “If global warming continues, why not?”
It may be a while yet before the Newcastle climate rivals that of Toulouse’s but what will hopefully soon warm is France’s relationship with Antoine Dupont.
You will miss him when he’s gone so make the most of the little genius while he’s here.