At the Vélodrome stadium,
A historic victory, and a big worry. The scrum half of XV of France Antoine Dupont, was taken to hospital Thursday evening to carry out examinations for a “suspected crack or fracture in the jaw”, informed Fabien Galthié at the final whistle. The scrum half went out on concussion protocol in the 46th minute of the Blues’ match against Namibia (96-0) for the 3rd day of the Rugby World Cup 2023, after being hit in the head by Namibian captain Johan Deysel.
The captain of the Blues remained on the pitch for several minutes to be treated by the doctors of the XV of France, before leaving, holding his jaw and grimacing. Matthew Carley, the referee of the match, sent a yellow card to Deysel, which was then transformed into a red by the “bunker”.
“A little mixed”, regrets Jaminet
After the match, the coach defended his decision not to release Dupont earlier to protect him. “We cannot take out all fifteen players at half-time. We planned to take some out at half-time and then the rest in the 55th minute. The goal was to take some playing time and not be inactive for a month. If we take it out before, you’re right… This team wanted to play. »
“We come away a little mixed. We were all very happy at the end of the match but, afterwards, when we returned to the locker room, we learned that Antoine (Dupont) had gone for exams… We took a little hit to our morale. It’s always annoying to lose a player, especially Antoine. We wanted to get together, to rediscover this team spirit that we had lost a little in the match before (against Uruguay, Editor’s note),” reacted Melvyn Jaminet.
While we await the official verdict, France Télévisions journalist Matthieu Lartot mentioned on a “fracture” but with an “operation which would not be considered” with a “hopeful return at best” in the semi-final.