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Antoine Dupont: France star in hospital - report
By Ian Cameron
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.
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.”
Antoine Dupont est sorti sur protocole commotion après un plaquage tête contre tête, affaire à suivre…#RWC2023 | #FRAvNAM pic.twitter.com/5IQ7VwO9kO
— RugbyPass FR ?? (@RugbyPass_FR) September 21, 2023
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.”
SA unlucky draw would have been a fair result
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.
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.
It's always on the same side of the rugby planet that wild violence comes.
Yep England
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.
Tell that to Japan.
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.
Almost unbelievable the complete French outfit is reliant on ONE player quite ludicrous and presumably if that half back can't play, the attitude seems to be that if he doesn't play the Eiffel Tower will fall over!
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
Amen! No fan wants any player from any squad getting injured. The rest of the Cup will be a poorer place without him, that's for sure.
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
Foolish
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.
You cannot wrap players in cotton wool, don't think they want to be either. Match fitness and sharpness only comes through playing you cannot get that in training or the gym. They had a rotational plan, and his number was to be called later. It's unfortunate but that's Rugby and RWC's have a higher than normal attrition rate. Only team in this WC that's still relatively healthy is Ireland...
This is easy to say in hindsight. If France got caught cold in the quarter having rested Dupont for 5 weeks then I imagine people would be saying the opposite. That he should have had more gametime.
All the big guns were rested against Uruguay last week and they have a week off next week. The stronger side for Namibia made sense to me.
These things happen, but fingers crossed we get to see him back on the field soon.
This is due to calendar. Not playing Dupont - or any main squad member - would mean they would have almost one month without competition before Italy. Galthie had to make them play.
Agreed, foolish risk.
Hope it’s nothing serious and for a speedy recovery.
Agreed. Don't like seeing players injured no matter how much it helps the opposition. Speedy recovery Monsieur Dupont.