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Brad Barritt shares the mental and physical hurdles awaiting Dupont post-surgery
Brad Barritt, the former England and Saracens centre, overcame two cheekbone fractures during his rugby career and fully understands the mental and physical challenges Antoine Dupont, the injured French captain, must overcome after facial surgery to be fit for the Rugby World Cup quarter-final on October 15.
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Barritt, who has forged a successful business career in South Africa, refused to let the pain of his own fractured face keep him off the pitch and expects a similar response from the French captain, although he admits there is always worry in the back of your mind. He told RugbyPass: “By the time Antonie has the opportunity to get back onto the pitch it will be outrageous to think he wouldn’t have some anxiety or concerns about ‘what if’.
“Antoine will want to play in a World Cup play-off game and it is a very personal decision- everyone has their own perspective. The surgeon I saw was quite mindful of how the game is played and the risks we take every week.
“There will be some discomfort but every player has to play with pain at this level. He will have a week to recover, spend time in a hypobaric chamber followed by light training with the aim of taking part in full training a week before the quarter-final.
“The medical team would have told him what the risks are and if you are prepared to take them then you should feel confident and it is important there are no concussion symptoms. The moment you hide in a rugby game you get yourself into trouble. I played a Champions Cup final with a broken hand and that was more concerning and created more anxiety than the fracture in my face. The fact I wasn’t carrying any concussion symptoms and there was no threat to my eye meant it wasn’t as bigger risk as it was perceived to be.
“It is about getting over the pain threshold and the anxiety about taking contact. I would love to see Antoine in the match and the reality about a World Cup is that a team has to be at its best for three massive play off games to win. Antoine is arguably the best player it the world and a sheer joy to watch and a phenomenal talent. You have to be beat the best to become the best and no matter which team you support you want to see someone like Antoine playing.”
Barritt twice had titanium plates inserted at different times to repair the same kind of fracture that Dupont suffered when Namibia captain Johan Deysel’s head crashed into the side of his face in the host’s 96-0 win in Marseille. Dupont is now in discussions with the French team’s medical experts to decide if he needs to wear a protective mask when he returns to action.
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The famously tough Barritt had similar discussions when he suffered his two facial injuries but given the damage his nose had suffered over the years, he found that the mask clouded up because he could only breathe through his mouth.
He added: “We had a discussion about me wearing a mask after the first operation and they did create something that was moulded to may face and it was a bit like the Harry Kane one. I found it to be cumbersome and having to breathe out of my mouth because of my nose problems a lot of moisture was getting caught in the mask and clouding up.
“I took the decision that I didn’t want the mask to become a hinderance and having been told there was now a titanium plate in my face and it was stronger than my own bone, if I played it was the same risk as playing the following season.
“There was trepidation with the first training run and it was the captain’s run and you are trying to make sure you keep it out of the way. A lot of the anxiety is in your own head and as long as I crossed the white line and had the first collision in the match then the confidence grew with each hit and you weren’t hiding it.
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“It is in your head as the build up to the game happens but as soon as you kick off the focus is about your role and there is escapism in that along with an element of will and desire. I didn’t want to miss the Leinster game and if someone gave me a sniff of playing I was taking it.
“After the game the area was swollen but no more than the original injury and the operation. A lot of the swelling was internally and I don’t remember getting hits to the head in the game and the biggest low was losing.”
The second of Barritt’s cheekbone injuries came in 2018 and saw him collide with Joe Marchant’s elbow on the Saturday in a Premiership match, undergo surgery to insert the titanium plates on the Tuesday under local anaesthetic sitting in a dentist style chair and then he played against Leinster in the Heineken Cup quarter-final the following Saturday.
So, why did Barritt opt for a local anaesthetic the second time as the procedure involved a “shoehorn” being inserted into his mouth to create space to make a cut in his gum for the plate to be drilled into place?
He explained: “I wasn’t concussed and by not going under for the operation it meant my recovery time was shortened and I would be able to play against Leinster.
“I had two surgeries in the space of six months and the initial injury happened against Bath and so I had two pieces of metal put in each time so there were four in total. I missed two weeks the first time and then fast forward to the second one and I didn’t realise it was a problem until I blew my nose and my cheek blew up.
“The operation was on the Tuesday and we had Leinster in the play off game and I was desperate to play. I spoke to the surgeon and asked if it was possible and he said that with a fracture in your face while you carry the underlying fracture it may not be affected in one week, two weeks or a couple of months.
“I didn’t have concussion and without any integrity problems around the eye then the best hope to be ready was to go under a local anaesthetic. I didn’t have the effects of a general anaesthetic to overcome and so they numbed my whole face and screwed the plates from inside my mouth while I was conscious.
“There was adrenaline pumping through my body and I do remember the drill which was similar to the dentists one but a lot less discomfort. I was then able to play on the Saturday. Both operations were on the same side.”
Comments on RugbyPass
So spiteful that the Springboks won again, they just had to change the laws so that they would stand a chance.
38 Go to commentsWhy would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
151 Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
37 Go to commentsGoode is a Prop that played Flyhalf…. Who gives a Sh@#t what he thinks anyway!
151 Go to commentsOne would hope when a player of such caliber is approached for transfer is traversed a lot more carefully. The question I ask, “is the players agent raising red flags in the first instance of contact”. By what I read assumptions are made by nzr based on player welfare provided to them. So what is that? Is it a wholistic approach where family balance is taken into account. Because thay’s what’s in the mix when players go off shore. I realize the money is a huge factor but when negotiations are initiated is nzr involved. As Lendrum says having our best players available is paramount to our success So here’s hoping they are effectively communicating.
4 Go to commentsPSTD, I salute you.
6 Go to commentsWhy don't they just give up on scrums and lineouts, cut the number of players to 13, and call the game ‘rugby league’? These idiots are determined to destroy the game as we know it, and instead of ‘attracting youngsters to the game’ as Beaumont suggests, it’ll deter a lot of the less skilled, maybe overweight kids who it is perfect for. World Rugby is detestable. And as for the 20 minute ‘red’ - why not teach the players to tackle better? (Like the current tackle height trials are supposed to do, but will probably be squashed by the NZRU as usual). I despair for the union game, I really do.
38 Go to commentsHere’s hoping the emphasis on how the tmo interfaces on game infractions is taken into account more seriously than what was adjudicated during the 23 wc. That was a shambles, plus Barnes the abs ref never contested some of the calls, something he’s known for. And then we're left with wr opologizing after the game that smith’s try was legit. I was even more pizzed. And as for the red card if the infringement is clearly intentional foul then the individual is out of the game and after 20mins the bench replacement comes on. So, there’s then the degree of seriousness taken into account within the 20min stand down.
37 Go to commentsNot sure they the article doesn’t hit on TMO this year, that’s were they were putting focus right. The fact the other areas haven’t improved shows just how poor the comp is at focusing on its direction. There should still have been further gains in both those areas this year even it if didn’t have the same focus as others. The whistle to restart time, like touch finders of 26 seconds, surely has to be a key focus area next year. Why should a side be given so much time to kick for touch? Cut that down to 5 or 10 seconds, penalties both become less of key stalling/defensive strategy, and become more ‘live’ with tap kicks becoming much more favourable quick actions. Theres absolutely no reason we have to wait over 10 secs for the preferred kicker to walk up and try and take maximum advantage, especially when half the time its just a delay tactic to give the forwards time to plan, as the kicker hardly even trys to find the corner with his kick, anyone could have kicked it straight out for the lineout.
37 Go to commentsShame. Hope something else can be arranged.
3 Go to commentsTitans of under-20s rugby …. Reporters tired verbiage akin to calling every player a “star” and any Fijian side as ”Flying”. The French English and Irish are the Titans of U20 rugby. Noone in the South is now. This tournament is however, good prep to regain titan status.
1 Go to commentsWill be humbling coming back and playing second fiddle to Dmac.
4 Go to commentsSounds like quite a bit of development has occurred regarding Mo’unga’s situation. Either NZR has stepped up their offer (big time) or RMo has had a reality check on what it will be like to be outside of the high performance environment of AB rugby. Maybe both. It reads like there are only a few remaining details to be sorted out before it is a done deal.
4 Go to commentsCurrently, a prop that has been substituted can go back on field if his original replacement gets injured. Can a red carded prop go back if his replacement gets injured, or will it be uncontested scrums?
13 Go to commentsWhat about a free kick from a scrum? Can you call another scrum? Or are they just giving straight penalties now?
38 Go to commentsLoved that comment by Andrew that the ‘water boys’ rule was changed in 2020 just to stymie the Boks!
38 Go to commentsOne of the best the Boks have ever produced. PSDT has an engine that goes non-stop for the full 80 min.
6 Go to commentsThe real deal.
6 Go to commentsIt’s been said that Nienaber will head back to SA too before next World Cup , hoarding all the amazing IP gained in Irish system … get a grip … Irish system needs to Milk the likes of Barrett . First time a leading all Black in his prime has gone to Ireland for any period of time . Enjoy it .
22 Go to comments20 min RC is the only good solution of a bunch of bad solutions. Ridiculous that it has taken this long and caused so many uneven contests. In general these are all very good changes - one is surprised that NH brokers were able to see sense at long last.
13 Go to comments