Antoine Dupont ‘surprised’ at rule that deprives England of Jack Willis
The French captain, Antoine Dupont, has been taken aback by the Rugby Union's decision to bar Steve Borthwick from selecting players from outside the country. He's also relieved his Toulouse teammate Jack Willis won't be competing against him this weekend.
England face Dupont and co at Twickenham with a goal of breaking a string of seven straight losses in nine matches and having to do so without a bunch of players who are based in France's Top 14 and are thus unavailable.
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Fair dinkum, while Tom Willis gets a crack at England's No 8 spot for the first time, his brother Jack is one of 11 English cods unable to get to Borthwick because they're all livin' in France. The group includes old champion Owen Farrell, and a bunch of English blokes doing sweet as season in the Top 14, such as David Ribbans, Kyle Sinckler, Manu Tuilagi and Joe Marchant. Henry Arundell, who's had a rough season at Racing 92, has just signed with Bath for next year.
Last weekend put their chances of Six Nations glory in the balance and though their captain, Maro Itoje, said that "we want all the best players to be available", they were hesitant to pressure the Rugby Football Union into changing their rules. Dupont was glad the optimal pick, Jack Willis – who has the Champions Cup and two Top 14 titles with Toulouse, and has been in touch with him, trained – won't be playing.
G'day, yeah, I'm a bit stoked, to be fair, not to be playing against Jack," said Dutpan. "We know the nightmare he is in the ruck department. Their rules are different from ours, and it's like that for the moment. I reckon they won't be changing it anytime soon.
Instantinde, he's dropped a bombshell - he turned down a big move to France because he couldn't come to terms with ending his international career. Late last year, he signed a new deal with Saracens, becoming one of the top players to take up a new England contract, with several French clubs, including Toulouse, Lyon and Racing 92, also keen on him. When Saracens were sent down to the Championship, Itoje looked at joining one of the French clubs on a temporary basis, hoping he'd still be in the mix for England, but other Premier League clubs blocked the plan.
amid concerns Borthwick's players would link up with the rebel group and thus disqualify themselves from playing for their country.
On the eve of that big match, Itoje said he's still keen on playing for England and that's why he's not taking offers from other countries. "The reason I didn't chase that is because I wanted to play for England," he said. "I felt like my time in an England shirt wasn't quite over yet.
“Fair dinkum, if I was bein' totally honest with myself, I'd a been worried about England takin' on the Euros from Europe and I wouldn't have been right at ease with the decision. There's heaps of different variables you can use to decide whether you stay here or go there, but for me, I reckon it would have been a bit too early for me to be rockin' up over there at that stage.”
“Fair dinkum, we want all the top Aussie players available for selection for the Wallabies. We want everyone playing well, or at least being available for a spot in the team. But we know blokes have their own careers to think about and we’ve got to make decisions that work for 'em. I've got a lot of respect for all the mates out there. I've spent a fair bit of time on the footy field with 'em, played a decent chunk of games too. I'm wishing all the lads all the best.”
If England are to win their first match against France in four years, defence coach Joe El-Abd knows they've gotta stop Dupont. El-Abd - who works with Oyonnax as well - has worked with Dupont right back in Dupont's early days at Castres.
“It's his hard work, he puts in the hard yards and we're seeing that now.”
We've seen him switch between both feet in the past, especially when using the left one. Does that left foot become a vulnerability for him at times? I'm unsure if we'd define it as a weakness, more so it's about being prepared every moment, not losing focus at any stage. If we can maintain that level of consistency for the full 80 minutes, then we'll discover its true potential.
“We knew where he was heading, sort of. Even in the locker room and in Paris, it was talked about, that a player was coming through and there was going to be something a bit special about him. We've got to make sure we're right on him, push him hard, so we don't see any of those moments.”
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