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Sometimes it has been a contentious award but rarely will there be such widespread agreement in the global game that Antoine Dupont has been voted World Rugby’s World Player of the Year.
The Toulouse and France scrumhalf succeeds Pieter-Steph du Toit and becomes the third Frenchman in history to receive this distinction after Fabien Galthié in 2002 and Thierry Dusautoir in 2011.
The 25-year-old won the award from a shortlist also featuring Michael Hooper, Maro Itoje and Samu Kerevi after an outstanding season with club and country.
Dupont was the captain and driving force behind Toulouse’s double of Heineken Champions Cup and the French Championship, and accordingly was honoured as both the Top 14 player and European of the season for 2020-21. In 21 games for Toulouse in 2021 so far, Dupont has been on the winning side 19 times and scored nine tries; a remarkable rate for a scrumhalf.
Despite contracting Covid during the competition, Dupont also had a brilliant Six Nations, when voted runner-up as the player of the tournament behind Hamish Watson.
In the autumn series he even replaced Charles Ollivon as captain when he was injured and guided them to three wins, culminating in that thrilling victory over the All Blacks.
In eight Tests for France in 2021, Dupont was on the winning team six times and scored three tries. In May he said he was “embarrassed” to be described as the best player in the world. Well, it’s official now.