Dupont to sit out Six Nations for Olympics preparation
NEWS: France captain Antoine Dupont will sit out this season’s Six Nations to prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris less than a year after the disappointment of an early World Cup exit, the French rugby federation (FFR) told AFP on Wednesday.
Dupont, 27, will miss the competition held between February 2-March 16 next year in order to participate in legs of the World Rugby Sevens circuit, now known as SVNS.
His club Toulouse, the FFR and Dupont are set to hold a press conference on Monday, 250 days from the start of the Games, when they are expected to announce Dupont’s intentions.
Dupont will join France’s Sevens squad in January before SVNS events in Vancouver, Canada on February 23-24 and Los Angeles on March 2-3.
Scrumhalf Dupont’s most recent XV-a-side appearance for France was last month’s agonising World Cup quarterfinal defeat to eventual winners South Africa at the Stade de France.
The stadium in northern Paris will also host next July’s Sevens competitions, for men and women, in the Games.
As far back as last December, Dupont opened the door to playing in the event, which first featured in the Olympics in 2016.
“It’s highly motivating,” Dupont told RTL.
“It’s incredible when you see the enthusiasm it can create. There is a desire from my side to put things in place for me to participate.
“It will be a discussion between the different coaching staffs,” he added.
A host of other leading XV-a-side players have featured at past Olympic Games including South Africa wing Cheslin Kolbe and former New Zealand centre Sonny Bill Williams, who have both won the World Cup twice.
Fiji have won the two men’s gold medals since Sevens was introduced into the Olympics with the longer format of the sport having last featured in 1924.
Dupont’s France football counterpart, the Paris Saint-Germain superstar Kylian Mbappe is also keen to take part in the Games on home soil.
The absence of Dupont in the Six Nations will force France head coach Fabien Galthie to name a new captain and starting scrumhalf for the Six Nations, which they start against Ireland on February 2.
