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'I couldn't sleep': Antoine Dupont felt 'injustice' with Kiwi ref Ben O'Keeffe

Antoine Dupont of France interacts with Referee Ben O’Keeffe during the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between France and South Africa at Stade de France on October 15, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

France’s star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont has revealed that he felt so much injustice during the World Cup quarter-final against South Africa that he had to rewatch the game the day afterward.

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The quarter-final result for France was by the exact same margin in 2019, a 20-19 loss to Wales, but the feeling this time was very different.

During the game there were displays of frustration from Dupont and other French players as they tried to adapt to O’Keeffe’s style.

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Dupont said in an interview with legendary footballer Thierry Henry for Bros. Stories that he “needed” to rewatch the game.

“In 2019, we were eliminated by one point, the same, while we were leading by 12 or 13 points with a quarter of an hour to go, but I never watched the match again,” he told Henry.

“That one, I needed it. I couldn’t sleep, so I watched the match the next day.

“Because you always have an impression on the pitch, and sometimes, rewatching the match it’s different.

“It was to see if this feeling of injustice was real or not.”

The scrumhalf was openly critical in his post-match comments in the aftermath of the loss saying he didn’t think that the “refereeing was up to the challenge.”

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Following the criticism O’Keeffe brushed off the comments as part of the emotional toll.

“It’s obviously a very emotional time,” O’Keeffe told NewsHub at the time. “I just try to respect that and give them space.”

A World Rugby review into the performance highlighted five major errors with O’Keeffe’s decisions, most of which went South Africa’s way that were material to scoring events during the game.

France benefitted from two major infringements that weren’t picked up and allowed to play on.

Dupont said whilst he will likely get another chance to hoist the William Webb Ellis trophy, he will hold regret over the “nightmare”.

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“I will have the opportunity to win it [the World Cup] perhaps, but we regret the match,” he told Henry.

“You replay the movie in your head and the worse it goes, the worse it ends up going.

“So all you want to do is sleep and then wake up hoping that it’s just a nightmare. Unfortunately, you have to come to accept it and move on.”

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39 Comments
B
Bob Marler 358 days ago

The best sports men and women - real champions - have short memories.

And they certainly don’t whine like babies for weeks on end.

Moveon.com.

T
Turlough 358 days ago

Not to inflame thinsg further but amazed that Arendse’s push on Fickou for Try 1 wasn’t picked up. The push meant Fickou clattered into the two Frenchmen under thr high ball….which rebounded into the path of Arendse who had a clear run to the try line.

R
Riekert 360 days ago

Why is my comment to shown is this site shaddow banning people that speak the truth????

T
The Crypto 360 days ago

Dear Antoine, your country through FIFA like backdoor dealings stole the hosting RSA had been promised the only Tier 1 nation with just one hosting. All others with 2 and in some instances shared for a 3rd time.

You were on every poster pre-ordained like Lomu in 1999, as if the tourny was all about you and your nation. BTW against real opponents I never saw one Fourie Du Preez no 9 performance like he did vs ENG for a 36 - 0 beating in England in RWC2007, where RSA won a title in your home land, yet you underestimated their team level of commitment.

You had 2 players that may have got yellows if EBEN'S BENCHMARK was the standard that didn’tget one. After 65 mins your team fizzled out, to a side with a Bench who always finishes strong. Rugby is a 80 min game.

You had 10mins of an extra man, and still gave up 4 tries in defence where the Boks gave up 3.

The problem was your mental entitlement to be Champion, without having as a challenger the ability to knock the real champion out, who played away in the NH like 75% of their RWC wins in a crowd hostile environment, where most neutrals also wanted you to win.

They are beasts for coming through all that, and it was only mid-journey of an all the way hostile crying angry babies tunnel with French, Eng & NZ vitriol that still runs today, just like you.

Too African Too Strong, more tries, 10 mins Bin time, great blocked kick, because of guile graft and toil to a level you have yet to expereince.

Visualizing something is one thing, the mental cognizance of failure to deliver is however all yours, it’s earned. Learn something from it.

D
Derek 360 days ago

I hope that your Christmas comes sooooooooon

D
Dan 360 days ago

Haha Ben Smith is such a loser! Everything he writes shouts loser!

E
Emmanuel 360 days ago

Seems pretty embarassing the overwhelming negative comments from English speaking fans on this topic. All sports have disputable calls like the hand of god or offensive interference in American football, and rubgy leaves so much judgement that its gets twice as much.
All this will not help elevating the sport from its “british empire” origins. I’m sorry all your Southern hemisphere sympathies do nothing for this sport in big markets like western Europe (ex UK) or even the US.

J
Jon 360 days ago

What’s French for ‘put on your big boy pants’?

B
Blake 361 days ago

Wishing you the Luck / Divine Favour of the Springboks over the Festive Season and the coming year!

P
Pecos 361 days ago

Boo bloody hoo.

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JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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