Antoine Dupont (born 15 November 1996) is a French professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player. He currently plays at scrum half for

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

and captains the

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

national team. In 2021, Dupont won

World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

Early life and education

Dupont was born in

Lannemezan Lannemezan (; Gascon Occitan ''Lanamesa'', "heath of the middle") is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department and the Occitanie region in south-western France. The inhabitants are called Lannemezanais. Lannemezan is the largest city ...

but grew up in the nearby village of Castelnau-Magnoac where he started rugby for Magnoac FC at the age of 4. In 2011, he joined Auch as a junior. Dupont studied for a master's degree in sport management in 2019 at the Toulouse School of Management

Professional career

In 2014, Dupont joined

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lan ...

in the Top 14 after the relegation of Auch in the 2013–14 Rugby Pro D2 season.
In November 2016, Stade Toulousain announced Antoine Dupont's recruitment for the 2017–18 season. He was awarded the World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year in 2021.

International career

In 2016, he was selected for the France U-20 team for the 2016 World Rugby Under 20 Championship. He was one of the stars of the tournament scoring 36 points which included 5 tries. In November 2016, he was selected for the French Barbarian team which played and beat

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Dupont was called up to the French first team for the first time ahead of France's fourth 2017 Six Nations Championship match against Italy as a replacement for Maxime Machenaud. He made his debut in that game coming on for Baptiste Serin in the 72nd minute of an eventual 40–18 away win. He is the third French captain after

Fabien Pelous Fabien Pelous (born 7 December 1973) is a retired French rugby union footballer. A lock who also occasionally played as a number eight and flanker, he played the bulk of his professional career for Stade Toulousain, and is the all-time leader i ...

and

Thierry Dusautoir Thierry Dusautoir (; born 18 November 1981) is a French former rugby union player who last played for France at international level and Toulouse in the French Top 14 club competition. Dusautoir was considered a strong ball carrier and possessed i ...

have beaten Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

International tries

Honours

International

* Six Nations Championship:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

: 2022

Club

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* European Rugby Champions Cup: 2020–2021

Individual

* Six Nations Player of the Tournament:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

World Rugby Player of the Year The World Rugby Men's 15s Player of the Year is an accolade awarded annually by World Rugby at the World Rugby Awards. The award is presented to honour "the achievements of those involved at the highest level of the world game on the field". Th ...

: 2021

References

External links

France profile
at FFR
Ligue Nationale De Rugby Profile

European Professional Club Rugby Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupont, Antoine Living people 1996 births French rugby union players Rugby union scrum-halves Castres Olympique players Stade Toulousain players Sportspeople from Hautes-Pyrénées France international rugby union players World Rugby Players of the Year