In Aix-en-Provence
This Thursday, Bruno Roussagol health manager of the XV of France, returned to the injury and convalescence of Antoine Dupont, who was operated on for a maxillo-zygomatic fracture after a violent shock during the victory against Namibia (96- 0).
“Antoine expressed his desire to remain resting. We respected his choice. Fabien’s (Galthié) first recommendations were to above all respect the instructions of the surgeon who operated on him and to take the time to come back with us, if he wished. He called several times during the week to give news and get advice. Yesterday, he was doing as well as possible, six days after surgery. The pain has subsided. It is evolving very favorably. Antoine is in good spirits and is rather confident.”
“He will have a post-operative visit to the surgeon to assess his progress by the end of the week. We are waiting for the return. We will also support him in relation to this shock because there are necessarily secondary lesions. There will be specific jaw rehabilitation work but also a neurological check next week to improve his condition in relation to the concussion.
“His return is subject to the surgeon’s green light. And by his HIA 3 concussion protocol. The priority was his fracture, we were not able to assess his concussion at first. Hence the neuro check to see if Antoine is suitable or not. He never described any concussion-related complications. It’s encouraging. We therefore hope for his return fairly soon. But it will be a gradual return. At the start of the week, he will start again with some lifting, that is to say cycling, to get him back up to speed. The rest will be conditioned on his feelings. We will then move on to the re-athleticization phase with interviews with the psycho unit to support him. Finally, the resumption of rugby will also be conditional on the green light from the surgeon. So there are a lot of elements that we don’t control. But what is certain is Antoine’s strong motivation to come back.”
“We are not planning beyond next week. I am convinced that he will not be back against Italy. For the quarter-final? We cannot yet ask this question. There is so much to validate. We are only planning on his return to the group and his resumption of activity. We’ll see how he reacts. The surgeon’s agreement is required but also his feelings. We can imagine its return and a gradual recovery. What we don’t control is our ability to integrate into the group and then resume rugby activity.”
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“The question does not arise today. This is not good timing. We haven’t yet discussed the subject with Antoine. I am not necessarily in favor of it but if Antoine asks us we will study the question.
“The surgeon can give full agreement or partial agreement. If he does not agree, another meeting will be scheduled.”