Antoine Dupont rushed to hospital as World Cup hopes hang in the balance

France are sweating over the fitness of captain Antoine Dupont after he was forced off the pitch in their 96-0 victory over Namibia in the Rugby World Cup Pool A clash.

Dupont started France’s third match of the tournament against the African nation and was in fine form, assisting two tries and scoring another.

However, his involvement in the emphatic victory may have come at a cost, as he was rushed to hospital after Namibia captain Johan Deysel tackled him.

Dupont’s injury scare

Referee Matthew Carley issued a yellow card to Deysel, who made head-on-head contact with the France captain, before sending the incident to be reviewed by the Foul Play Review Bunker.

The Bunker later upgraded the yellow card to a red, but it ended Dupont’s game prematurely as he exited the pitch holding his face.

France 2 reports that Dupont was taken straight to hospital following the incident and was being treated for a suspected concussion and a potential facial fracture.

Johan Deysel clatters Antoine Dupont 🤕

It's upgraded to a red 🟥#RWC2023 pic.twitter.com/nPBNEgu1RO

— ITV Rugby (@ITVRugby) September 21, 2023

Head coach Fabien Galthie will be sweating over his star player’s fitness, particularly considering that France have already lost his half-back partner Romain Ntamack before the tournament kicked off.

A concussion could rule him out of France’s final Pool A game against Italy, while a fracture to his jaw, could sideline him for even longer.

“There’s a suspicion of a crack or fracture in his jaw,” Galthie said. “He’s gone for tests. We’ll wait for the results before moving forward. We need to take advantage of this great victory and the players’ fine performance.”

Later in the post-match press conference, the France head coach was texting with the star scrum-half and stated that it could be a maxillary fracture, which takes around six weeks to heal.

However, as broadcaster Sonja McLaughlan pointed out, former Saracens and England centre Brad Barritt fractured his cheekbone and played later that week.

“Brad Barritt once fractured a cheekbone, had surgery to insert a plate and played in same week. Can be done,” Sonja posted on X, formerly Twitter.

France were ruthless in their victory over Namibia, scoring 14 tries, including one penalty try and scores for Damian Penaud (3), Charles Ollivon (2), Jonathan Danty (2), Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Dupont, Baptitse Couilloud and Melvyn Jaminet.

Full-back Thomas Ramos missed just one conversion, racking up 24 points in total.

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