Meetings with Lionel Messi and LeBron James, FaceTiming Zinedine Zidane and treading the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week dressed to the nines in Louis Vuitton.
It is almost unheard of for rugby players to get these sorts of opportunities. But for Antoine Dupont, they are now almost a weekly occurrence.
France’s iconic captain is one of the sport’s few true global superstars and as he prepares to lead his country into the 2025 Six Nations, the 28-year-old Toulouse scrum-half will do so not only in the prime of his career, but with a worrying message for his rivals.
‘I can get better, for sure,’ the consensus best player in the world told Mail Sport. ‘I always have things to improve in my game – my skills, my defence, my leadership. I’m still young and still have space to learn.
‘I also have a lot of objectives left. We start the year with the Six Nations, but I want to win the Top 14 and the Champions Cup again.
‘I’m very lucky because I play in teams that have that potential and who are very ambitious. They push me to be better day after day.
Antoine Dupont poses at the Louis Vuitton show at Paris Fashion Week this month
The 28-year-old is the face of French rugby and widely regarded as the world’s best player
Dupont was named 2024 World Rugby Sevens Player of the Year after winning Olympic gold
‘I think for the moment, I am managing my life pretty well. I enjoy a lot the different experiences I get to have outside of the rugby field – art, travel, culture.
‘But I also have to keep in mind that all the things I am capable of experiencing outside the field is because I am good on it. That’s very important to remember
‘I think I have a good balance right now. I need to keep doing that.’
South Africa’s Pieter-Steph du Toit might hold the official title of the world’s best rugby player, but Dupont spent a large part of 2024 out training to win Olympic gold for his country in a whole new sport last summer.
Dupont’s displays for his country’s sevens team lit up their home Olympics last summer
Dupont had just a few months to switch from 15-a-side to sevens but excelled in his new format
The rugby star was chosen as France’s flag bearer for the closing ceremony in Paris
His presence in Paris as the face of the Games was one of the great sporting stories of last year, and brought rugby to the forefront of the Olympic conversation.
For some, Dupont is already the best to have ever played the game, surpassing the likes of Sir Gareth Edwards, Jonah Lomu and Dan Carter. What does he make of that?
‘Honestly, I try not to give importance to the comments,’ he said. ‘I still have a lot of things to do until the end of my career. When I stop, I will look back at what I’ve done.’
Recognition of Dupont’s incredible on-field ability is nothing new. But his explosion outside of the rugby bubble and into a wider public conscience in the last 12 months certainly is.
Dupont’s speed, flair and strength make him one of the greatest rugby players ever
Dupont, who represents six-time European champions Toulouse, earns £1million a year
It is good news for Dupont, whose combined earnings are £1million a year through his contract with Toulouse, the greatest club side on the planet, and sponsorship deals which also include Airbnb and Volvic.
And it is also highly significant for the sport he plays. As rugby battles for its place amid a competitive global sporting landscape, it needs players who can reach wider audiences to grow.
Dupont is one of them, alongside iconic Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and America’s Ilona Maher, who is currently packing out houses in the Women’s Premiership with Bristol.
Last October, after a gruelling season in which he successfully switched between sevens and 15-a-side rugby, Dupont set off for the USA for a well-deserved break.
Dupont is suited and booted alongside French singer Oli at the Cannes Film Festival
Dupont meets LeBron James in Los Angeles during a well-deserved break last summer
Dupont and Messi, arranged by their mutual sponsor adidas, at Inter Miami’s training ground
Two of world sport’s biggest stars met up and Messi presented Dupont with an Inter Miami kit
The pictures from his chat with Messi – arranged through adidas with whom both have lucrative deals – at the Argentine’s Inter Miami training ground quickly and unsurprisingly went viral.
Dupont posed with a pink Miami shirt, with his name and No 9 on the back. It was justly billed as the two best players in their respective sports coming together.
In the US, Dupont also met James, the basketball legend, and trained with the Los Angeles Chargers NFL team.
Rugby is still a niche sport out in the States, though it has a foothold with Major League Rugby having begun in 2018. The league, which is broadcast on Fox Sports, is home to 11 teams and growing, and has previously attracted World Cup winners Ma’a Nonu and Tendai Mtawarira.
Dupont, of course, would be the greatest scalp if they can ever tempt him away from the record six-time European champions and current holders.
‘Every time I have two or three days off, I try to move away from Toulouse and France, if I can and have enough time,’ Dupont said. ‘I think it’s very important to see and experience other things and to spend time with family and friends.
‘It’s allowed me to have a full battery when I come back. It’s worked pretty well so far.’
Dupont will lead France as they try to knock Ireland off their Six Nations perch this year
Dupont has become used to being at the centre of iconic images. In 2023, the picture of him walking down the tunnel of the Stade de France, hands on head in despair after his team’s quarter-final World Cup exit, summed up the mood of a despondent nation.
That global showpiece, again on home soil, was supposed to be Dupont and France’s time to shine. The plan was to deliver a first William Webb Ellis Cup for a fanatical rugby nation. It didn’t quite work out.
Dupont suffered a fractured cheekbone in the pool stages and was then part of the team narrowly edged out by eventual winners South Africa in the quarter-final, one of the greatest games of rugby ever played.
It wasn’t supposed to end like that. But Dupont refused to be bowed. He simply redoubled his efforts.
It’s not a surprise he was able to adapt to sevens rugby so quickly. His all-round game means he is highly suited to it, and his speed, power and incredible pairing of flair with first-rate decision making were all gold dust for the shorter form of the game.
He has a running threat, can kick off both feet and for a man small of stature – he is 5ft 9in and only 13st 5lb – is freakishly strong.
The shorter form of the game also showcased Dupont’s work over the ball. As a scrum-half, he shouldn’t really be pilfering possession at the breakdown or rucking. But it’s all in a day’s work for Dupont.
Dupont’s home World Cup was rocked by a fractured cheekbone against Namibia
Dupont receives treatment on the pitch but looks pained as the French physio gets to work
Dupont was left with a black eye but managed to feature again before France’s exit
‘I try to be good in every area,’ he said. ‘Even if I play scrum-half, I like to carry the ball. I like to defend. I like to contest the ball. I like to kick.
‘I am lucky I have a lot of freedom with Toulouse and France. This is the way I feel most comfortable.’
A gold medal at the Stade de France followed, and Dupont celebrated by video calling French football legend Zidane. The duo would later meet for another iconic image – another adidas production – near the Eiffel Tower.
Dupont’s Olympic gold also saw him bestowed with France’s highest civilian honour, the Legion d’Honneur, by President Emmanuel Macron.
‘I tried to prepare with specific training sessions, I’ve worked really hard on my sleep and my recovery,’ he said. ‘I’ve given a lot of importance to all these things in the last six months because I knew it was important. It’s all been worth it.’
In France, Dupont’s status as the biggest rugby star the country has ever produced means his every move is monitored.
In January, the man known to his team-mates as ‘Toto’ – a shortened version of Antoine – appeared on popular French TV Show Les Enfoires. Alongside fellow celebrities, Dupont danced on stage – all with the aim of raising money for charity.
As part of his Airbnb deal, the website offered stays at Dupont’s childhood home in Castelnau-Magnoac. They were all swiftly booked up.
Dupont FaceTimed football icon Zinedine Zidane after winning Olympic gold in Paris last year
The French sporting heroes from different generations have teamed up through adidas
Somehow, his love life remains a complete mystery – he has managed to keep his personal affairs extremely secretive and that is no mean feat given the media frenzy about him.
On Friday night, Dupont will lead out his country once again, back at the Stade de France as they open up the Six Nations against Wales.
Fabien Galthie’s side are the most likely side to wrestle the Championship title from Ireland and the form of their players with Toulouse and Bordeaux, who have lit up the Champions Cup, bodes well. But knocking Ireland off their perch will almost certainly require them to win away to one or both of England and the Irish.
First up though is perhaps the easiest possible task, hosting Warren Gatland’s Wales side who lost all 12 Tests in 2024.
‘He’s definitely up there for the best ever player because of the influence he has on a game whether he’s playing for France, for Toulouse, or even in the sevens,’ Gatland said of Dupont.
‘He’s not the biggest, but he’s incredibly quick. He’s powerful. He’s got great vision. He’s excellent at staying on his feet in contact and keeping the ball alive. You don’t see him get tackled a huge amount. He’s got an excellent kicking game and kicks off both feet.
‘We’ve got a huge amount of respect for him. One of the things I admire about him is how humble he is. I think his upbringing defines him as a person.’
That upbringing began in the Occitan village of Lannemezan close to the Pyrenees, before he grew up in Castelnau-Magnoac.
Dupont’s professional breakthrough came with his local Top 14 side, Castres
He will be the star of this Six Nations and every team will fear his attacking threat
Dupont had a rugby ball in his hand from the age of four and came through the Magnoac and Auch youth systems before joining his local Top 14 side Castres in 2014 as a 17-year-old. He would stay there for three years before the giants of Toulouse came calling.
‘I come from a little village where rugby is a religion,’ he said. ‘There are rugby fields everywhere. Rugby is big in our culture as a country. I think that’s because in the past, the French teams have had good results – even if we haven’t won a World Cup.
‘I have great memories of the Six Nations from when I was younger. It’s a magical tournament, the pinnacle of European rugby. We want to win it, but it’s a long competition. We have to be consistent for six weeks. There is only one solution if you want to win at the end.
‘We know it’s a big challenge for us with three away games and playing in Dublin and at Twickenham. But I think we have the potential to face that. It will be a very exciting tournament.’
