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Antoine Dupont: France star in hospital - report

France's scrum-half and captain Antoine Dupont (C) receives medical attention during the France 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool A match between France and Namibia at the Stade de Velodrome in Marseille, southern France on September 21, 2023. (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP) (Photo by CHRISTOPHE SIMON/AFP via Getty Images)

France will be left to sweat on the fitness of Antoine Dupont after he was removed from the game against Namibia in Marseille after suffering a head injury.

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Referee Matthew Carley showed Namibia centre Johan Deysel a yellow card for the head-on-head contact just minutes into the second half. Dupont immediately took a knee at the Stade Velodrome in Marseille, before being tended to by medics.

Carley carded Deysel and signalled for the incident to be sent to the TMO bunker and it was ungraded to a red following a review.

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While Dupont didn’t appear to lose consciousness, the France captain was removed from the field and did not return. The 26-year-old appeared to holding his jaw as he left the pitch, albeit unaided.

France 2 and RMC Sport report that he was taken to hospital to be treated for a suspected concussion and a potential facial fracture. “According to France 2, Antoine Dupont was taken to hospital to undergo examinations. In addition to the suspected concussion, the scrum-half may have suffered a fracture. Examinations will now determine whether this is the case.”

Head coach Fabien Galthie confirmed after march in an interview with France 2 that his skipper was being examined for a potential broken jaw.

Galthie and indeed the entire French nation will now face an anxious wait on the fitness of the iconic halfback, who could potentially miss games if he enters and completes the return-to-play protocols. If he had suffered a facial fracture or broken jaw, the Toulousain could potentially face even longer on the sidelines.

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France have already suffered the loss of Dupont’s halfback partner, Romain Ntamack, who was ruled out on the eve of the flagship tournament. The Toulouse flyhalf appeared on the sidelines in Marseille on crutches, having recently undergone surgery on his knee.

Against that, there has been the return of both Cyril Baille and Jonathan Danty following injury. There was also good news this week on injured No.8 Gregory Alldritt, with general manager Raphael Ibanez saying: “We’ve no worries over Greg. Yesterday, towards the end of training, he got a knock to his knee. This morning, he joined the players who aren’t on the teamsheet for a very intense physical session. Now he’s recovering from that. Like his team-mates, he’s into the swing of things in terms of preparation. He’s in a good training situation.”

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Comments

26 Comments
J
James 425 days ago

SA unlucky draw would have been a fair result

E
Edward 425 days ago

They should fire the French Coach. This is the world cup. Why risk the best player against the second weakest side in the tournament. whats the difference between 50 nil and 100 nil?
all about the coach's ego. very poor judgement.

M
Mike 426 days ago

It is a sad loss for world rugby. Although I'm a Bok supporter I have great admiration for France and Dupont in particular. They play hard and fast with great skills, and are seldom dirty. This is a year they have a very real chance of becoming world champs. Ntamak and Dupont out will badly damage that.

G
Guy 426 days ago

It's always on the same side of the rugby planet that wild violence comes.

b
bob 426 days ago

One wonders what the point of including these minnow teams in the cup is.
It must be no fun being pummelled every time they play the professional sides.
For the ‘big’ teams also pointless and not proving anything.

b
bob 426 days ago

Very sad news if he is ruled out of the World Cup.
A great player for the fans to watch.
Like Marx, Ntamack and Cherry it must be a dreadful time.
They have worked and trained so hard for this event.

B
Ben 426 days ago

All us rugby fans need Dupont for this World Cup, he's a joy to watch, I wish him well and hope his injury is not serious

t
terry 426 days ago

If any of you knew your rugby you would know Dupont would have wanted to play the whole game, hates not to be playing believes he needs constant game time to stay at peak performance

B
Ben Smith is a Dick 427 days ago

Foolish

S
Schneider 427 days ago

So what was the point of keeping Dupont after half time or even playing him vs Namibia.

France will be lucky if he is just concussed, any other injury like facial fracture and that's his world cup most likely done.

Galthie was careless playing him in such a high risk game.

NZ, SA and Ireland will all sleep better if Dupont is ruled out the World Cup.

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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