France was afraid, now it is worried. What if this story of fracture in Antoine Dupont’s face had made everyone lose their sense of reality? After the shock and anger at such a twist of fate, comes the time for reflection, and with it this tension between the desire to see the captain of the XV of France return as quickly as possible to carry the Blues to a world title at home and the reason why there should not even be a debate. The scrum half suffered an ultra-violent charge to the head, his brain tilted and his cheekbone cracked. It’s ostheo (synthesis), rest, sleep, and we leave the Toulouse man alone until the end of the World Cup, as painful as this prospect is.
“These are the circus games”
This is not what is emerging, we understood that from the start. After a few days of rest, Antoine Dupont returned to Aix-en-Provence on Saturday, where he found his teammates. He will start his recovery program in the coming days, initially cycling, then progressive re-athletics. However, the management seems to have distanced itself a little from the frenzied optimism of the first days regarding a rapid return to play. Tuesday, William Servat assured that he did not necessarily have too many doubts about his ability to play the quarter-final. A release that was certainly too hasty. This is how two days later, the head of the health center of the France group recalled the basics: “As long as we do not have the green light from the surgeon, we will wait to talk about a return,” asserted Bruno Boussagol correctly, evoking in particular a neurological check between now and the match against Italy to assess the effects of a possible concussion, in addition to the fracture.
The mere mention of a return still makes some people jump. Take Olivier Magne, for example. The former international with 89 caps has a voice that carries. He used it to denounce the recklessness of those who play the little music of optimism. “I thought that the rugby I had known, where you could be knocked out one weekend and play again the next, was over. And I was very happy. But I see that no, he regretted In The Parisian, Wednesday. We are still in Antiquity. These are circus games. The physical integrity of the player was not taken into account. If rugby causes such situations, I say no. »
This sport is at a turning point, indeed. In recent years, the question of players’ health has opened up, but more thanks to the testimonies of former players suffering from serious cognitive illnesses and alarming scientific studies than to resolute action by the authorities. The latter only started to move in reaction, and again, you have to be patient to detect the beginning of progress.
Quentin Garcia is starting to run out of it. The first French rugby player to have recounted his ordeal due to concussions not taken into account and attacked his former club Chambéry, at the end of 2020, the ex-hooker is tired of preaching in the desert. Tired, he leaves Me Foucauld Prache, who with his colleague from the Alekto firm is in charge of administrative appeal in preparation against the French Federation (FFR) and the League (LNR), speak for him.
Facade speech?
“When we see that Fabien Galthié makes a joke about Paul Boudehent’s exit against Namibia [le sélectionneur avait dit que son troisième ligne avait « fait gamelle », entrant en jeu et ressortant quelques minutes plus tard pour un protocole commotion], we tell ourselves that there is work to be done, observes the lawyer. Basically, mentalities are not changing. The only imperative for a coach, a Federation, is to have players who can be remobilized as quickly as possible. »
Those who try to move the lines denounce the beautiful promises of the authorities, never followed by the radical decisions which nevertheless impose themselves in their eyes. Asked this week about the “popular pressure” and sometimes irrational for Antoine Dupont to return as quickly as possible, World Rugby general director Alan Gilpin simply recalled that “the well-being and health of the players” were the “number one priority”. 1, at all levels of the game. “Always the same facade speech,” reacts Me Foucauld Prache. We are in the posture. Everything in their behavior and their decision, or rather lack of decision, proves the opposite. »
Question of responsibility
The fact that such an injury concerns one of the best-known players in the world, in the flagship competition of this sport, at least has the advantage of putting the debate on international television. No one can bury their heads in the sand on this one. But there is a major pitfall to avoid: that of placing the responsibility for the good or bad decision solely on the shoulders of the player of the France team – however broad they may be.
“He’s a very high level competitor, you can’t ask him to be reasonable. He has a loyalty to his team, to his country, which we can understand, believes Philippe Chauvin, the father of Nicolas, a Stade Français Espoirs player who died in December 2018 following a double destructive tackle. It would be too easy to put pressure on him. The first to be able to respond are the doctors around him, provided that they are not under influence, and that there is no confusion between the sporting issue and the health issue. We are dealing with a question of ethics and deontology. »
Philippe Chauvin, who has been leading a fight for the safety and health of players since this tragedy, makes the same observation of inertia as our lawyer. “We have authorities which are supposed to protect the players and which fundamentally kick in,” he laments. This does not seem to be the intention of the new president of the FFR, Florian Grill, at least when we read what he said At Parisian Thursday, beyond the Dupont case. “I want to place the question of safety – and this question is not limited to the number of days of rest for players – at the heart of the discussions that we will have at World Rugby during a big meeting, on October 4, on the question of harmonization of the international calendar, he assured. I will not make any concessions on this because I consider that the future of French and world rugby is at stake. »
We will give the Ile-de-France leader the benefit of the doubt, he who only took office last June. Which does not prevent good advice. “The question everyone should ask themselves is: if you have a player who is vulnerable because of a past injury and who is knowingly allowed to return to the field and a few weeks later that player is very seriously injured, how do you manage that? Who is responsible ? », asks Philippe Chauvin.
The latest echoes from the XV of France tend to show that all these considerations are well taken into account. We will see what the final decision will be, if the Toulouse player returns to the field, and when, without prejudging whether it is hasty and risky or not. “What I hope with all my heart is that we first think of the beautiful person that Antoine Dupont is before thinking of a possible victory in the quarter-final,” implores Nicolas Chauvin’s father. I hope that there will be the perspective to tell him, if necessary, “listen Antoine, this is not the match of your life. It can’t be.” » We will leave the final words, and hope, to someone who knows him well, his teammate Melvyn Jaminet. “I am sure that he will only want to play again if he feels it 100%,” assures the Blues full-back. That’s what everyone wants to believe.