While in Lyon, Antoine Dupont "feels a special flavor" before the Top 14 semi-finals

" I hope the Lyonnais will support Stade Toulousain tonight ," smiled French rugby player Antoine Dupont on Friday, June 20, just a few hours before the Top 14 semi-final between his club and Bayonne (9:05 p.m.) at the Groupama Stadium in Décines. Still injured, the French XV scrum-half still attended the match organized by the Fiducial group, a long-standing partner since 2008 and shareholder of Stade Toulousain, at IDRAC Business School, a business school in Lyon's 9th arrondissement.

🏉 Stade Toulousain player Antoine Dupont is in Lyon, as part of a meeting organized by Fiducial, a few hours before the Top 14 semi-finals. pic.twitter.com/3fMTHn1UaJ

— Lyon Capitale (@lyoncap) June 20, 2025

The number 9 answered questions from Fiducial's staff, unfiltered and completely relaxed. " I think something has happened with rugby in France (...) It's a bit of a departure from social media and our current generation; we're going back to simplicity ," he said, referring to the rise of rugby in France in recent months.

Read also: Seven years later, Lyon will be buzzing with rugby at the time of the Top 14 semi-finals

The gold medal won at the Paris Olympic Games is not for nothing. François Trillo, sports journalist who will be commentating on the semi-finals for Sud Radio , could only sum up the very full list of achievements of the stocky Antoine Dupont (1.74 m, 86 kg, 28 years old), victim of a cruciate ligament rupture at the beginning of March while playing for the French team.

" I'm still undergoing treatment and strengthening so that my knee can perform as well as it did before the injury ," reassured the international, who will return to racing in about two weeks. He will also be absent from the final phase of the Top 14, the semi-finals of which are being held entirely at Groupama Stadium this Friday and Saturday.

The entire capital of Gaul has donned the colors of the Top 14, as a rugby village with free entertainment has been set up in Place Bellecour for both days. " You can feel a scent, a special flavor. That's where you see the beauty of this sport: a club that finishes sixth can become champion ," he says. He adds: " It's less stressful to experience it from the outside, but you feel powerless. You don't know what the group dynamics are like, the mentality. You feel a little out of control ."

After holding this exchange, drawing the winners of the competition and taking a few minutes for a signing and photo session, the French international will join his Toulouse squad at the stadium in the afternoon, " even if he doesn't know what use he can have ." He will then attend the match like a fervent supporter in the Lyon stands.

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