France’s Antoine Dupont is a wonderful athlete and world-class scrum half, but the best No 9 the sport has since since it turned professional in 1996 is South Africa’s Fourie du Preez, writes Mark Keohane.

Dupont is in South Africa with Toulouse for the defending champions’ Investec Champions Cup Pool match against last season’s EPCR Challenge Cup winners, the Hollywood Bets Sharks. It is his first time back in South Africa since he played the last 24 minutes of France’s third and final Test against the Springboks in 2017. France lost the Test 37-15 and the series 3-0.

The 24 minutes Dupont played against the Springboks in South Africa are the only 24 minutes he has so far played as a professional rugby player in the Southern Hemisphere in his career. He has never toured New Zealand, Australia or Argentina with the national side and this is the first time Toulouse will play a competitive match in the Southern Hemisphere and, specifically, South Africa.

Dupont is 28 years-old and is a two-time world player of the year. He is an incredible athlete, more than the complete scrum half. His athleticism reminds me of the danger and impact Bulls and Springboks scrum half Joost van der Westhuizen used to have on matches, particularly in his prime.

Dupont is wonderful for the sport and the only regret is that he has played all his professional rugby in Europe, for France and for Castres and Toulouse.

He did play in the 2019 World Cup in Japan when France won three pool matches and lost 20-19 to Wales in the quarter-final.

Statistically, he has individual and team awards, with France in the Six Nations and Toulouse in the Top 14 and Champions Cup.

DuPont has been celebrated by many as the best player in the world and has many a cheerleader for being the greatest to have ever played the game.

I think he is fabulous, but the GOAT? Not quite.

Du Preez, with the Bulls, Suntory (in Japan) and Springboks also won individual awards and team awards. The Bulls won the Currie Cup three times with Du Preez at No 9, Super Rugby three times with Du Preez at No 9, the Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship twice with Du Preez at No 9 and the 2007 World Cup title with Du Preez the mastermind at No 9.

He also influenced and contributed to Suntory winning three Japanese League titles and one Japan Cup title in his 45 matches for the Japanese club, where he formed a potent combination with current Japan coach Eddie Jones.

Du Preez would finish his career with 164 appearances for the Bulls in Super Rugby and Currie Cup, 45 for Suntory, 76 Tests for the Boks and one non-international for a Springboks XV.

Jones had worked with Du Preez at the Boks’ Technical advisor at the 2007 World Cup, then spent three seasons coaching him in Japan and at the 2015 World Cup had this to say of Du Preez: ‘He is the best decision-making halfback I’ve ever seen. Fourie’s ability to come out of the ruck, to know whether to hit the short runner or go wide, is superb. He’s getting older now, so obviously he doesn’t have that electric pace he had in 2007, but his ability to control the game is first-class. It’s like having a coach on the field. If you watch the NFL and you see the quarterbacks, they run the team. The coach might be sending them the info, but they are the ones who tell everyone what to do on the field. To me, Fourie is like that.’

Heyneke Meyer, who coached Du Preez at the Bulls and the Springboks was as complimentary of Du Preez. So too the 2007 World Cup winning Bok coach Jake White.

The professional game has seen some magnificent No 9s and DuPont is among the elite in the nearly three decades that includes the careers of All Blacks Justin Marshall and Aaron Smith, Wallaby George Gregan, Wales’s Rob Howley and Mitch Phillips, Argentina’s Augustin Pichot, Van der Westhuizen, Ireland’s Connor Murray, England’s Danny Care and France’s Fabian Galthie.

I have always likened Du Preez at No 9 to the complete package of All Black Dan Carter at No 10. For me, that would be the most rugby intelligent and potent halfback pairing in the history of professional rugby.

Dupont is a special player and this strength, raw aggression and passion add to the lure when watching him play.

But if you are talking the most complete No 9 I have ever watched live, reported on and written about since 1992, when I started writing about rugby as a profession, then it is Du Preez.

Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Src: keo.co.za