Rugby World Cup 2023: concern for Antoine Dupont, the captain of the Blues hit in the face

In a fraction of a second, the Stade Vélodrome went from a schoolboy atmosphere celebrating Namibian Rossouw’s try to absolute terror when seeing Antoine Dupont stunned in the center of the field. A video call from referee Matthew Carley revealed what no one wanted to see. The captain of the Blues hit in the head on contact with center Johan Deysel.

A masterful blow of air conditioning on the Marseille lawn when the images on the giant screen lingered on the face of the Toulouse player, his eyes reddened by pain or the worry of having to abandon his friends shortly after the restart. Concussion protocol and a trip to the hospital to do facial exams. A suspicion of a fracture or crack in the maxilla was also announced by coach Fabien Galthié during the post-match conference, without further details. The player had gone to the hospital to undergo examinations.

Dupont had done everything well

Because until then, Dupont had done Dupont and quite well. Two successful kick passes for his friend Penaud, and a scored try, offered by the latter to his pack leader. The evening was shaping up to be perfect… The clouds hovering over the Vélodrome seemed far away. Until that terrible 46th minute. And Deysel’s skull crashes into the face of the child from Castelnau-Magnoac. This image that no one wanted to see. A nightmarish vision for all Blues supporters, but also their staff. 60,000 breaths frozen in an instant. And a whole stadium hangs on the phone to get news from “Toto”, as we hope for news from a loved one.

Fabien Gatlhié had chosen to field his “premium” players after the disappointment born from the narrow victory against Uruguay. A choice that could be costly against the Namibians who were more solid than technical…

The large and expected victory against Namibia will ultimately only remain anecdotal. Despite the high score, not many people wanted to celebrate peacefully. We will have to wait for news from Antoine Dupont for French rugby to start breathing again.