2023-10-09 05:21:11
Paris (AFP) – France XV scrum half Antoine Dupont, operated on September 22 for a broken jaw, will know on Monday if his surgeon authorizes him to play once more, less than a week before the quarter-final of the World Cup for the Blues once morest the South Africans on Sunday.
Published on: 09/10/2023 – 07:21 Modified on: 09/10/2023 – 07:19
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Dupont (26 years old, 51 caps) has an appointment during the day in Toulouse with Professor Frédéric Lauwers, specialist in maxillofacial surgery, for a crucial medical examination.
Victim of a violent shock during the large group stage victory over Namibia (96-0) in Marseille on September 21, the captain of the Blues was operated on the next day at the Purpan hospital in Toulouse, before returning barely ten days later his partners, for an individual recovery phase.
On Monday, he will see Professor Lauwers once more who will tell him whether he authorizes him to resume contact rugby, and therefore training for the French XV.
“He worked well physically: a lot of racing, a lot of speed, these are his strong points,” said Karim Ghezal, the co-coach of the Blues in charge of the conquest, on Saturday. “As far as anything physical goes, he hasn’t lost much in a week off, on the contrary. Physically, he’s in great shape.”
Blues captain Antoine Dupont training on the sidelines of the group following his operation, October 1, 2023 in Aix-en-Provence © Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP/Archives
“All that’s missing is the appointment with his surgeon who will decide” if the scrum-half can play once more, he concluded.
Linings
Concretely, either the doctor says “no”, and the Blues will have to do without their star player, as they have already had to deal since the start of the competition with the withdrawal of opener Romain Ntamack, victim of a ruptured cruciate ligament. of the knee in mid-August.
Either Professor Lauwers says “yes”, and the Blues coach Fabien Galthié, his staff and Dupont will have to decide whether the Toulouse player regains his place in Sunday’s quarter-final once morest the reigning South African world champions.
The captain of the XV of France Antoine Dupont (C) is treated following being violently hit by a player from Namibia during a World Cup match, September 21, 2023 in Marseille © CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP
This medical examination is therefore far from trivial, six days before a meeting which promises to be incandescent at the Stade de France.
In the absence of its playing master, the XV of France counted on its usual understudy in the position of N.9, Maxime Lucu (Bordeaux-Bègles, 30 years old, 18 sel.), during its last group match Lyon once morest Italy, won easily (60-7).
In a more sober style than Dupont, Lucu assured and managed, quickly distributing the ball and making the right choices, before being replaced in the 54th minute by the No.3 in the post, the Lyonnais Baptiste Couilloud.
If Dupont were not to be authorized to set foot on the lawns of the Rugby World Cup once more, Lucu might continue the interim, being associated at the hinge, as in Lyon, with his teammate at UBB Matthieu Jalibert, who has become N.1 at the opening following Ntamack’s package.
“Resilience”
The return – or not – of Dupont with the Blues is also part of the debate around the health of players in general.
“Dupont’s decision to return, as a young man dreaming of leading his team to glory in a World Cup hosted at home, is written in advance,” wrote on X (ex-Twitter) the group “Progressive Rugby”, which advocates better health care for rugby players.
“It is romanticism, desire, the sense of duty and sacrifice, the ego, which push high-level athletes to play at all costs,” the group further notes.
“The choice to play or not must be up to the doctors and the management, adds the organization. Even if Dupont said he wanted to play, they might choose not to select him, consider that it is not in his interest, that “it’s perhaps not the best thing for French rugby.”
The president of the French Federation (FFR) Florian Grill praised the player’s “resilience” during his reintegration into the group following his operation, evoking a message that was “just incredible”.
French scrum-half Maxime Lucu, Antoine Dupont’s understudy, during the World Cup match once morest Italy, October 6, 2023 in Lyon © Jeff PACHOUD / AFP
But the boss of French rugby also insists on the health of the player: “We have a sporting responsibility but we also have a human responsibility. And that is above all else.”
© 2023 AFP
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