I can see why Dupont has gold in his sights

IT is very hard to think of France without Antoine Dupont as a driving force as both scrum-half and captain.

- JEREMY GUSCOTT

He is the best player in the world, and continues to prove it as anyone who watched the Toulouse masterclass against Harlequins in the Champions Cup tie at The Stoop last weekend will testify.

How many players would have made the impact Dupont did for the French in their epic World Cup quarter-final against South Africa, despite playing with a broken eye socket and cheekbone?

It proved he is human when he made a couple of early unforced errors against Quins, but it didn't take him long to get into his stride and cause havoc.

Often when you get a key player injured in a good team it provides an opportunity for another player to rise to the occasion, so that there is almost a seamless transition. For instance, when John Smit was South Africa's captain and hooker, and he was unavailable, all they had to do was install Bismarck du Plessis at No.2, because they were almost interchangeable.

However, Dupont is at the heart of this French team to such an extent that he's not interchangeable, even though his scrum-half understudy, Bordeaux's Maxime Lucu, is a good player.

Dupont is so talented that even when it comes to picking the scrum-half in a World XV, where he faces competition from great No.9s like Faf de Klerk and Aaron Smith, there is no doubt that he is the best and with room to spare.

What sets Dupont apart is his inspirational capacity to instigate something for France when there is nothing on, and nowhere to go. He can bounce, jink, dummy and deflect with such guile and power that he almost always gets the French out of a dead-end.

It is mind-boggling and unique - so France will miss him hugely when he leaves the 2024 Six Nations stage early in the New Year in order to fulfil his dream of playing for the France sevens side in the Paris Olympics this summer.