Top 14: Antoine Dupont will start on the bench for his big comeback against Racing 92

It was nothing more than an open secret. Antoine Dupont will make his big return to competition this weekend, during the Top 14 match between Stade Toulouse and Racing 92, scheduled for Saturday at Ernest Wallon (9 p.m.). As confirmed by Le Parisien on Thursday, the 29-year-old scrum half will take his place on the bench at kick-off. He is announced as a replacement on the team composition revealed this Friday evening by the Haut-Garonnais club.

Away from the field for almost nine months due to a ruptured cruciate ligament in his right knee suffered in Dublin during the Six Nations Tournament on March 9, the captain of the French XV should make his appearance during the second half.

“We found the Antoine we left nine months ago,” said Jean Bouilhou, the Toulouse forwards coach, during the press briefing organized Friday morning. “He quickly regains his feelings. All the lights were turned green so he could play. He’s a different player. He immediately got his bearings. He is so talented. And he also has a form of authority over the game,” he confided.

“He’s in good shape”

Enough to hope to vibrate from the first accelerations and the first passes of the French rugby genius, whose rehabilitation went well. “He’s in good shape,” judged his teammate Joshua Brennan to the media. “We have already seen him come back after his first knee (Dupont suffered the same injury in 2018), there was no problem. I don’t see any problem after his second knee, he will show it to everyone very quickly. »

Same story on the Racing side, where Patrice Collazo is delighted with the return of Dupont despite this weekend’s confrontation. “I prefer to see him on the pitch than injured, whether with his club or with the French team. These are players that we like to face, because it’s what he does best in his position,” said the Ile-de-France coach to the press.

Dupont has not played a single match with Stade Toulouse since the Champions Cup match against Leicester on January 19. To find traces of an appearance by the French crack in the Top 14, we even have to go back to October 27, 2024, during a match won against Toulon.