French scrum-half Antoine Dupont has been compared to the Terminator after he led his country to a 53-10 win over England at Twickenham.
Speaking on BBC’s live commentary and the Rugby Union Daily podcast, ex-England star Matt Dawson said that Dupont is “completely different from any other scrum-half”.
“He is Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zinedine Zidane”, he said. “There was a little moment where he was on the retreat, turned around and did this beautiful scan of the field - it was like watching the Terminator where everything goes digital”.
Ex-England fly-half Paul Grayson was also quick to heap praise on the Frenchman, calling him “the absolute real deal”.
The 26-year-old has been widely commended in the British media since the match, with some outlets stating that he has already cemented himself as one of the game’s all-time greats.
Current England scrum-half Natasha Hunt also sang Dupont’s praises, adding that she is “in awe” of the Frenchman. “I can’t tell you how difficult it is to have such a good kicking game off both feet. His skillset is absolutely outrageous and he is on top of his game at the moment,” she said.
Dawson was in no rush to disagree, saying that fans should “put everything aside and watch him”.
“It’s as if he is playing in my era where there was a lot more space and scrum-halves could have a go. They could make a fool of some of the forwards but you can’t do that in this day and age”, he said.
“His delivery, his kicking, the 50:22 off the left foot was ridiculous. It’s endless”.
Dupont will lead France at the Stade de France against Wales on Saturday for their final match of this year’s Six Nations, hoping that Ireland slip up against England in their search for a Grand Slam.
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