Will we see the captain of the French XV and star player of the team, Antoine Dupont, playing again during the World Cup, who suffers from a zygomatico-maxillary fracture, after a shock during the match against Namibia? The duration of unavailability has not been communicated, but specialists are not optimistic about the captain of the Blues. “A zygomaticomaxillary fracture is a serious injury,” reacts Dr. Jean Chazal, neurosurgeon and former president of the medical commission of ASM Clermont Auvergne. It is a strategic region from a functional point of view… plus the concussion which inevitably occurred, the brain being just above and behind. It’s a fairly rare injury in rugby and a 3-month stoppage is classic. For the moment, we are in the acute phase, we must allow the edema and hematoma to resolve and carry out a very precise assessment using imaging. It could take a week.” Remember that Sebastien Vahamahina suffered a similar injury in the European Cup last May and ended his career (fracture of the nose and base of the skull).
The hope of seeing the captain of the XV of France return for the semi-finals is therefore low. The parallel with opener Romain Ntamack is quite disturbing, both players were injured during a match they were not supposed to play. A poor performance from the reserve team the previous week (defeat against Scotland on August 5 and small victory against Uruguay on September 14) forced the coach of the French XV to review his plans. “The staff made the decision to have Antoine Dupont play the second half of a match that had already been largely won,” regrets the specialist. What’s more, against a nation of a very inferior level, which is thrown into the arena of a violent sport, and whose players only imperfectly master the technique.