Antoine Dupont scores 13 MINUTE hat-trick off the bench in sensational return for Toulouse
Toulouse star Antoine Dupont.
Olympics Sevens gold medalist Antoine Dupont announced his return to the 15s game with Toulouse in typical fashion as he scored three tries in nine minutes off the bench for his club who beat Clermont 48-14 on Saturday.
Dupont has had a crazy year of rugby switching between playing for France Sevens and Toulouse in the first half of the year where he eventually won gold in Paris, while also winning both the Champions Cup and Top 14 with Toulouse.
The superstar was recently in the USA where he trained with NFL side the Los Angeles Chargers for a couple of weeks before returning to France.
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Striking return
The talisman was named on the bench for his 15-a-side and was brought on in the 45th minute. As we have come to expect with the Frenchman, it didn’t take long to influence the game as Dupont scored his first try three minutes later thanks to a lovely snipe that exploited the weak pillar defence of Clermont.
Seven minutes later the Les Bleus star was back at it but this time he was more fortunate as he was on the end of a venomous move down the right-hand touchline.
Just when you would be excused for thinking he has made his impact from the game, Dupont struck again. Italian star Ange Capuozzo danced his way through the defence before noticing his French team-mate out wide after which he put a kick in behind and surprise surprise it sat up beautifully for Dupont who waltzed in for an epic hat-trick.
I guess there are worse ways to mark your return
Antoine Dupont comes off the bench and scores a hat-trick in his first appearance of the season for Toulouse
— Paul Eddison (@pauleddison) October 12, 2024
Hugely influential
Dupont’s form in recent seasons, and especially in 2024, has led to fiery debates around whether or not the 27-year-old has earned his place amongst the game’s greatest ever. Those debates will rage on and there is no questioning his influence on every team he plays for which was evident yet again for the scrum-half.
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