Antoine Dupont will finish his career as one of the game’s most decorated players, but talk over a “GOAT” is pointless in a game as varied as rugby, writes DYLAN JACK.

Dupont added to his already glittering wall of medals by helping France win gold at the Olympic Games, months after making the transition to sevens.

At just 27, the French maestro already has four Top 14s, two European Championships, a Six Nations grand slam and a Sevens Series title – for what that’s worth, given that France only had to win one tournament in Singapore to claim the trophy and Argentina were the actual league champions.

With Toulouse showing no signs of slowing down, and the FFR determined to pump as much money as they can to see France win a World Cup over the next eight years, it’s reasonable to think that when Dupont retires, he will do so with accolades that rival most who have played the game.

Away from his trophy cabinet, it’s easy to see why Dupont has so many screaming his name as not only the best in his position, but the best to touch a rugby ball in the professional era.

Aside from his excellent vision and playmaking that make him a threat whether he’s at scrumhalf or flyhalf, he defends with the doggedness of a blindside flank and his pilfer rate is scarily close to Richie McCaw’s.

With all that said, is there really a point to electing Dupont – or any other rugby player – as the ‘Greatest Of All Time’ in a sport that is as varied across positions and eras as rugby?

In solo sports like tennis, swimming, and athletics that becomes far more of an obvious thing. You can look at a Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic at how many grand slams they have won. You can judge a Usain Bolt by his running times and medal cabinet.

Even in a team sport like soccer, it’s easier, given that the likes of Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Bobby Charlton, Pele and Diego Maradona all did similar jobs for their teams: score goals, grab assists and lead the team’s attack.

But how, pray tell, do you compare the attacking wizardry of Dupont to Victor Matfield and Sam Whitelock’s lineout mastery, or the scrumming prowess of an Os du Randt and Beast Mtawarira?

Is Dupont even the best sevens player of all time?

That may seem a silly question, given how quickly success has followed his road into the code. At the risk of sounding like a moaning Saffa, have we forgotten about what Cecil Afrika did with a Blitzboks team that didn’t enjoy nearly as much investment as France’s Olympic Sevens team?

When Afrika first retired in 2020, he did so having guided the Blitzboks to back-to-back Sevens Series wins – where you actually had to finish top of the log after the series to win it – and won Commonwealth Games gold (2014) and Olympic bronze (2016) medals.

At the age of 32, he retired with 1 462 Sevens points, the seventh highest on the all-time points scorers list, and the most ever by a South African.

What about Waisale Serevi, who was a pioneer of success for Fiji’s sevens team, or a modern legend in Jerry Tuwai? What about Michaela Blyde, Ruby Tui and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who have written their own lore for New Zealand’s Sevens team?

This is not to say that we shouldn’t celebrate Dupont as one of the best currently playing the game. It’s brilliant for the growth of rugby that we have someone who can produce as many highlight moments when it matters as Dupont.

It also helps that Dupont is someone who is clearly not shy about embracing his fame, as so many rugby players still are, even though we are over two decades into the professional era.

Players like Dupont definitely help attract new fans to a game that is still pretty niche when compared to football and is often a third-ranked sport – at best – in many countries.

Not by any means do I believe that Dupont’s legend should be worse off just because he hasn’t won a World Cup.

But let’s just hold the horses when it comes to putting a gold crown on Dupont’s head. Rugby’s beauty comes from it celebrating players who do the dirty work of scrumming, mauling and rucking, as much as the flashy stuff.

OPINION: Give Olympic sevens more star power

Photo: Emmanuel Dunand / AFP