The Toulouse scrum half missed the 2024 tournament to concentrate on playing sevens rugby for France at the Olympic Games. It ended in a gold medal triumph at Stade de France – the same venue at which Wales will open their campaign next week.
Dupont will have waited 685 days to return to the championship to add to his 55 caps to date and his only regret is his side won’t be playing Wales in Cardiff.
“The loudest stadium in the Six Nations is Cardiff with the roof closed. We have good memories there,” he said at the Six Nations launch in Rome.
“It’s hard to communicate with each other when we’re on the field. But we get goosebumps every time we go there.”
He is, of course, targeting a trip to the Welsh capital in May for the Investec Champions Cup final with Toulouse, who showed off their credentials with an 80-12 homewin over Leicester Tigers last weekend.
Jac Morgan’s Welsh get into action next Friday night in Paris and are looking to kick-start the championship with a positive performance.
“It’s a challenge for us, although as Fabien Galthie said the expectation is all on them. Going to France at the start of the tournament is something we’re familiar with,” said Wales head coach Warren Gatland.
“We’ve been there a few times first up. We did the same in 2019 when we went to Paris and then had Italy in Rome, so we’re excited about that. We feel people are writing us off.
“I said before the World Cup ‘write us off at your peril’, and I’ll say the same again now. We’ve got to build our confidence, both physical and mental, and prepare properly.
“We need to create a siege mentality going to Paris. It’s going to be a tough challenge, but we’re playing in the best rugby tournament in the world. The games aren’t just games, they’re big occasions.
“We lost so much experience after the last World Cup and we had to bring young players through, which has been tough. But we’ve got some experience back in terms of Toby Faletau, Josh Adams and Liam Williams, as well as Dafydd Jenkins.
“That’s got to be a real positive and we’re in a nice position – there is no expectation and people are writing us off. This is such a tough tournament to win, so hard.
“It’s a tournament of momentum. If you win a couple of games early on, you can build on that confidence. What’s exciting about the Six Nations is that any team is capable of beating any other on the day.
“It’s the strongest I’ve ever seen the Six Nations in terms of the quality of the players and the teams. I remember when we used to talk about the Five or Six Nations and all the talk was about England and France and the rest were also rans fighting for the scraps.”
Ahead of that first match in Paris Dupont is taking nothing for granted. He knows that anything is possible in the world’s greatest rugby championship.
As Gatland said, France will start as clear favourites against his Wales side, but Dupont is taking nothing for granted. He knows that anything is possible in the world’s greatest rugby championship.
“When everyone says you are the favourites you have to be very careful. It is the biggest danger for our team,” said Dupont.
“It will be very important for us to win and to play well in the first game and we have the experience in our side to prepare well.
“Two weeks at Marcoussis before the first match is good, especially with an off weekend, even in the middle of the Top 14. It’s comfort for us and it gives us more time to be at our best for the first match.
“We’re very excited about the Six Nations and we have a lot of ambition. It’s a big challenge for us and I think we have the potential.
“It wasn’t easy to watch the guys playing last year and the results were not what we expected. We finished second and then we had a good series in November, so we must take that momentum into the Six Nations.”
