Dupont shows his class in Toulouse rout of Cardiff
EUROPEAN REPORT: France scrumhalf Antoine Dupont celebrated being named World Player of the Year with a try as Toulouse won 39-7 at Cardiff in the Champions Cup on Saturday.
Less than 24 hours after he was presented with the award, Dupont also set up three tries as the holders started the defence of their record fifth European crown.
The home side fielded a third-string side because 32 players had to isolate themselves after the team returned from South Africa earlier this month.
“We knew they lacked players but we also knew they had a lot of very good players, we prepared seriously,” Dupont said.
“The result is good, but they were good also,” he added.
Cardiff’s fellow Welsh region, the Scarlets, decided to forfeit their weekend fixture against the Bristol Bears, after also being caught by Britain’s changing quarantine rules.
At the Arms Park, the hosts, including academy members and semi-professional players, trailed 6-0 after a quarter of an hour following two Romain Ntamack penalties.
The vocal home crowd were fired up and had reason to cheer on the 20-minute mark as Wales threequarter Josh Adams went over under the sticks and Cardiff led 7-6.
The tie turned on its head before the break with two clinical Dupont interventions as the half-back’s breaks set-up Anthony Jelonch and Pita Ahki.
Toulouse was held at 20-7 by the home team’s committed defence before Dupont’s best contribution.
He broke off the back of a lineout from 30m out and beat four would-be tacklers to dive over.
The 25-year-old capped his display with a sublime low cross-kick to gift winger Arthur Bonneval a try that secured the bonus point. Dupont was then replaced with 13 minutes to play.
Cardiff finished with 14-men after 20-year-old fullback Jacob Beetham was shown a red card for a dangerous tackle on his senior debut before former Samoa lock Joe Tekori crossed for Toulouse’s fifth try with four minutes left.
The scorers
For Cardiff
Try: Adams
Con: Tovey
For Toulouse
Tries: Jelonch, Ahki, Dupont, Bonneval, Tekori
Cons: Ntamack 2
Pens: Ntamack 2
Red card: Jacob Beetham (Cardiff, 74 – foul play, dangerous tackle)
Teams
Cardiff: 15 Jacob Beetham, 14 Theo Cabango, 13 Josh Adams, 12 Willis Halaholo, 11 Dan Fish, 10 Jason Tovey, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 James Botham, 7 Olly Robinson, 6 Ellis Jenkins (captain), 5 Seb Davies, 4 Alun Lawrence, 3 Will Davies-King, 2 Iestyn Harris, 1 Rowan Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Evan Yardley, 17 Joe Cowell, 18 Geraint James, 19 Rhys Anstey, 20 Alex Everett, 21 Ethan Lloyd, 22 Ioan Evans, 23 Ryan Wilkins.
Toulouse: 15 Maxime Médard, 14 Arthur Bonneval, 13 Sofiane Guitoune, 12 Pita Ahki, 11 Matthis Lebel, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (captain), 8 Selevasio Tolofua, 7 Anthony Jelonch, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Emmanuel Meafou, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Charlie Faumuina, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Cyril Baille.
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Rodrigue Neti, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Joe Tekori, 20 Yannick Youyoutte, 21 Antoine Miquel, 22 Baptiste Germain, 23 Juan Cruz Mallía.
Referee: Karl Dickson (England)
Assistant referees: Michael Hudson (England), John Meredith (England)
TMO: Craig Maxwell-Keys (England)
