Antoine Dupont: the captain of the French team will make the “perfect sevens player”, says Danny Care

French captain Antoine Dupont will make the “perfect sevens player”, said England scrum-half Danny Care.

He captained France at home World Cup quarter-final defeat to South Africa during the XV match in October.

“If anyone can go out there and be the best player in Sevens, it’s him,” Care said. the weekly Rugby Union podcast.

“He’s the perfect sevens player and he’ll be a joke. He’ll be amazing, people won’t touch him. He’ll score and try.

“He’s the best player in the world and that’s something that means a lot to him and it’s a home Olympics, so imagine how special that would be.”

The Toulouse scrum-half, who led France to a 2022 Six Nations Grand Slam, has vowed make sacrifices” in pursuit of his Olympic dream which would result in a break in his XV career.

Dupont will join the sevens squad in January ahead of events in Canada and Los Angeles rather than in preparation for the 2024 Six Nations.

He was named the best player of this tournament in 2020, 2022 and 2023 and has featured in every edition since its debut in France in 2017.

“He’s probably going to play in 10 more Six Nations, so it’s like can I play the Olympics at home and win a gold medal?,” added Care.

“It’s a dream for every kid who watched the Olympics. Imagine beating everyone in the world and doing it in your home country, where everyone already loves you.”

Dupont follows two-time World Cup winner Sonny Bill Williams, who participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics with New Zealand, playing sevens straight after the World Cup.

Former Springboks winger Bryan Habana also attempted to compete in the 2016 Games, but was left out of South Africa’s Olympic squad after being part of the initial training squad.

Former Australia captain Michael Hooper announced last week that he had also moved to rugby sevens.

The Six Nations takes place from February 2 to March 6, while the Paris Olympics takes place from July 26 to August 11.