Suffice it to say Antoine Dupont has got France’s World Cup disappointment out of the system. Here, he spearheaded a ruthless Toulouse performance that brought Harlequins crashing back to earth and suggested the five-time winners are strong contenders for a sixth Champions Cup title.
Next year he will take a break from XVs and miss the Six Nations to hone his sevens skills before pursuing Olympic gold next summer. Before Paris 2024, however, he will return to action with Toulouse in the spring to lead their tilt at Champions Cup and Top 14 glory. On this evidence, they will welcome him back with open arms.
Quins were one of seven English clubs to win their opening match of the competition – a thrilling victory at Racing 92 – but here they more than met their match in Toulouse, who blended power and precision to great effect. We may soon be about to see a bit less of Dupont but expect to see plenty of his teammate Emmanuel Meafou in a French jersey in the coming months. The giant second‑row was named man of the match while Thomas Ramos – one of six key members of France’s World Cup squad on show – racked up 15 points from fly-half.
“When you lose a competition [like the World Cup] you want to do another thing to try to win again,” Dupont said. “We needed some weeks to be together to be competitive again.
“I will have a very busy year but I love that, I’m excited for it. I will have to work hard to be competitive in all the competitions. I’m very excited about that. Last time [I played sevens] it was under-18s I think. But it’s the same sport, there are a lot of similar things. I have to do my best. The coach has tried to teach me some skills and I try to learn by watching.”
Harlequins were competitive for large spells of the first half but, once Toulouse built a lead, the home side were forced to chase the game and that played into their opponents’ hands. Whether it be Dupont’s deception, Ramos’s speed or Meafou’s power, Toulouse have many ways to hurt their opposition and Harlequins were on the receiving end of pretty much all of them.
They also had to contend with losing Dino Lamb to a nasty-looking head injury – the match was stopped for more than 10 minutes – and above all else, this felt like a step too far for Quins after their recent exertions. They will be disappointed that they could not manage the fourth try, that they became so ragged in the closing stages, but will be honest enough to admit they were simply outclassed.
It was an inauspicious start for the two star turns on show, Dupont pinged in the first minute for not using the ball quick enough shortly before Marcus Smith turned down a straightforward penalty in front of the posts only to miss his target with the attempted kick to the corner.
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There followed a frantic 10 minutes in which Toulouse scored the opening try through Pierre-Louis Barassi after a clever dummy and break from Pita Ahki. Harlequins responded almost immediately with André Esterhuizen steamrollering Ramos before the visitors went ahead again through the right winger Dimitri Delibes.
Both sides struggled for rhythm after Lamb’s injury and, on the rare occasion they managed to find any, a knock-on wasn’t far away. It was Toulouse who eventually found their stride to add a third try through Peato Mauvaka, who was in support of the impressive Delibes, but Irne Herbst, on for Lamb, crashed over from close range to give Harlequins a spring in their step going into half-time.
Matthis Lebel added the bonus‑point try just after the break, all too easily for Harlequins’ liking, and though Herbst responded for the hosts Barassi added a delightful second with a move that began with Dupont charging over halfway on the counter. That score knocked the stuffing out of Quins, who shipped two more late scores to Rodrigue Neti and Ramos to underline the gulf in quality between the two sides.
