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'If you touch the head, it’s a red card': France warn Springboks about Antoine Dupont's face
France captain Antoine Dupont remains in contention to be involved in Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against South Africa after being “very active” since returning to training this week.
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The 2021 world player of the year has been sidelined for the past three weeks since suffering a broken cheekbone after a head-on-head tackle from Namibia captain Johan Deysel in Les Bleus’ third pool match in Marseille on September 21.
Dupont, 26, who underwent surgery on the injury, was cleared on Monday to return to full training with a view to potentially playing in Sunday’s box-office Stade de France showdown with world champions South Africa.
“We’ve been talking for two weeks now, Antoine is doing very well,” said forwards coach William Servat, providing the latest update on the French talisman’s status at a media briefing at Roland Garros on Wednesday afternoon.
“He needed to recuperate. He’s been involved in the team’s strategic choices and the changes we’re making to the game. Today, he was even more involved. He’s back with us and he’s very active in training.”
France head coach Fabien Galthie is due to announce his matchday squad to face the Springboks on Friday morning after discussions with the influential scrum-half over whether or not he feels ready to make himself available for such a high-stakes match.
Bordeaux’s Maxime Lucu deputised in the number nine jersey for Les Bleus’ final Pool A match, a 60-7 victory over Italy on Friday.
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Servat dismissed any notion that France might have to alter their defensive plans to compensate for any concerns about Dupont’s jaw if he is selected to face the ferociously physical Springboks this weekend.
“Antoine is one of the best defenders in the team and he’s at 100 per cent,” said Servat. “There’s no reason to change anything.”
Dupont has been trying out various forms of facial protection since his injury, but back-rower Gregory Alldritt has no concerns about his captain being exposed to further damage if he declares himself fit to tackle the bruising Boks.
“We know that in rugby, if you touch the head, it’s a red card,” said Alldritt. “He [Dupont] saw his surgeon who gave him the green light.
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“Antoine is an intelligent, sensible person. If he says he can play again, it’s because he’s fully fit.”
Alldritt admits the French will have to play at their maximum intensity if they are to overcome a Boks side who ran them close in a nail-biting showdown in Marseille last November that ended 30-26 to Les Bleus.
“We’ve worked hard on this for four years,” he said of their bid to win the World Cup on home soil. “We’ve played some big games, both with our clubs and with the French national team.
“The opening match [against New Zealand] was complicated, but we were ahead by half-time. I hope it’ll be the same this weekend.
“We’re coming down the home straight. We want to enjoy ourselves, have a lot of fun and finish this competition with no regrets.
“We’re making progress match-by-match but so are they. We know how they’re going to play.
“Their DNA, their rugby, is based on physicality. It’s up to us to put in more intensity than usual for 80 minutes. As we saw in Marseille, they’re a team that stays in the game for 80 minutes. We’ve been warned.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
31 Go to comments