{"id":289559,"date":"2023-09-22T07:36:32","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T07:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=289559"},"modified":"2023-09-22T07:36:32","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T07:36:32","slug":"antoine-dupont-taken-to-hospital-with-suspected-fractured-jaw-as-france-suffer-major-world-cup-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/rugby-union\/antoine-dupont-taken-to-hospital-with-suspected-fractured-jaw-as-france-suffer-major-world-cup-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"Antoine Dupont taken to hospital with suspected fractured jaw as France suffer major World Cup blow"},"content":{"rendered":"
Antoine Dupont was taken to hospital <\/p>\n
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France have sustained a major blow to their hopes of a home Rugby World Cup triumph after captain Antoine Dupont suffered a suspected facial fracture.<\/p>\n
Dupont was taken to hospital after leaving the field after a head-to-head collision during the second half of the hosts\u2019 record win over Namibia.<\/p>\n
The scrum-half, regarded by most as the best player in the world, was hit by the top of Johan Deysel\u2019s head, with the Namibia centre\u2019s yellow card upgraded to red on review.<\/p>\n
While the incident happened early in the second half, Fabien Galthie\u2019s decision to keep his star man on despite a sizeable 54-point halftime advantage may be scrutinised with Dupont now expected to miss at least some of France\u2019s potential run to the final.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a suspicion of a crack or fracture in his jaw,\u201d Galthie said after the 96-0 thrashing. \u201cHe\u2019s gone for tests. We\u2019ll wait for the results before moving forward. <\/p>\n
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\u201cYou can\u2019t take 14 players off at half-time. Our plan was to bring off one, three and five at half-time, then the rest at the 55th minute. The aim was to give everyone some game-time and not sit back for a month. The players wanted and needed to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maxime Lucu has been Dupont\u2019s primary back-up in the build-up to this World Cup, though Baptiste Couilloud has also impressed of late.<\/p>\n
France have already lost Romain Ntamack, their captain\u2019s half-back partner for club and country, for the tournament after the fly half suffered a serious knee injury in a warm-up fixture against Scotland.<\/p>\n
Galthie was boosted, however, by the return to action of Cyril Baille and Jonathan Danty in the Namibia win.<\/p>\n
With France at close to full-strength and Namibia resting a couple of key players ahead of their meeting with Uruguay next week, the hosts ran riot in Marseille, with Damian Penaud scoring a hat-trick.<\/p>\n
Penaud is now just five tries short of Serge Blanco\u2019s record tally for France\u2019s men.<\/p>\n
Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Antoine Dupont was taken to hospital Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing Sign […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289558,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n