When French talisman Antoine Dupont leads defending champions Stade Toulousain out in the Shark Tank on Saturday, he will return to the venue of his international debut – almost eight years ago.
It was 17 June 2017, when Dupont, now 28, played 24 minutes as a second-half replacement in France’s 15-37 loss to the Springboks at Kings Park in Durban – the second of a three-Test series.
It was a series whitewash for the Boks – winning 37-14 at Loftus Versfeld, 37-15 at Kings Park and 35-12 at Ellis Park.
Of the Durban Test just two Boks will feature against Toulouse in Durban in this week’s Round Three European encounter – Siya Kolisi, who will captain the Sharks on Saturday, and Bongi Mbonambi.
The injured Eben Etzebeth also played back in 2017.
For Dupont, the most talked about player globally, this is his first visit to South Africa for his club side and his first to the Republic in any capacity since his debut all those years ago.
Remarkably, the 24 minutes against the Boks in 2017, are the only minutes in his professional career that he has played in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Yes, I will probably have some memories, not very good memories, but it is part of my career,” the scrumhalf told @rugby365com in the build-up to Saturday’s crunch European Cup clash.
“Today [Saturday] it is in a completely different context,” he said of the Champions Cup setting.
“However, we can expect the same thing.
“There will be a huge crowd in the stands and a lot of physicality and pressure on the field.
“We know the Springboks’ spirit [fight] and we will see that in the game.”
(WATCH as French sensation Antoine Dupont chats to @king365ed about his return to South Africa after eight years….)
Asked about the importance of the Champions Cup to the French team, he enthused about their success and standing as the competition’s most successful outfit.
“Our team [Stade Toulousain] has – from the outset – a very strong relationship with this competition,” he said about Stade Toulousain’s six Champions Cup titles and two runners-up spots.
Their titles were won in 1996, 2003, 2005, 2010, 2021 and 2024.
“As defending champions, we know better than everyone else how difficult it is to retain our title,” he told @rugby365com.
“It is a very important competition for us and we try to put the best players [team] on the field in every game.
“Just like the Sharks, we want to reach the Final, but it is a tough road.”
Du Pont also touched on the challenges of playing in contrasting temperatures and conditions this time of the year – a refrain often used by South African teams.
“So we have to deal with that, even if it’s not practical,” he told @rugby365com, when asked about the vagaries and variables of the tournament.
“To train at 5°C and two days after, or a week later, to play in 30°C and 80 percent humidity is very hard on your body.
“However, we have to deal with that. We don’t have the choice.
“And they [South African teams] don’t have the choice as well.
“They have to play in this competition. It’s hard for them to play away as well, so we have to deal with that.
“We just have to prepare as best as possible to have a good ranking for the rest of the competition,” he said about reaching the play-offs.
The defending champions, Toulouse, are sitting pretty at the top of Pool One – with 10 points (two bonus-point victories), along with fellow French giants Bordeaux-Bègles (also 10) – ahead of Leicester Tigers (six points) and the (five points), both with a win and a loss.
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