“France is holding its breath,” writes the Australian sports site The Roar. “An agonizing wait,” adds The Telegraph. The convincing victory of the French rugby team against a very weak Namibia (96-0) on September 21 was clearly overshadowed by the injury of its star, Antoine Dupont.
The captain of the Blues suffers, as the French Rugby Federation announced in a press release on the morning of September 22, from a “maxillo-zygomatic fracture”, which could keep him away from the field for a few weeks. In the 46th minute of the match which took place in Marseille, the scrum-half was released on concussion protocol, after a violent collision to the head with the Namibian Johan Deysel, excluded from the action.
For the moment, Dupont “remains with the France group,” the team said. One of his coaches, Laurent Labit, mentioned a delay of two or three days before seeing things more clearly. For the international press, a package from its playing master, whose “mastery makes all other nations tremble”, according to The Roar, would very seriously jeopardize France’s chances of winning the World Cup, of which it is one favorites.
Blues already deprived of Romain Ntamack
“It is no exaggeration to say that the World Cup as a whole would be devastated by a serious injury to Dupont,” who is “the headliner of the tournament,” due to his status as the best player in the world , estimates The Telegraph.
And, while deploring the event, the New Zealand site seems to see noon at its door: “The restrictive game used by France to beat New Zealand [at the tournament opener on September 8] will not be enough to beat South Africa and Ireland [the other two big favorites], in the quarter-finals. At some point, she’ll need a little something extra, and that’s exactly what Dupont has brought to her club and country in recent years. Losing Dupont is such a blow to France that they could even struggle against Italy in their final group match in two weeks, a match that could have knock-on effects for the All Blacks. . »
Certainly, his possible replacements, Maxime Lucu and Baptiste Couilloud, “are good players”, recognizes Stuff, but they are far from being able to “replace what Dupont brings to France”. Which reminds us that the Blues are already deprived of their starting fly-half, Romain Ntamack. Antoine Dupont’s injury casts a veil over the very good match of the French team, which delivered a very good performance.
“An overwhelming performance”
After his team’s “disappointing victory” against Uruguay, the coach, Fabien Galthié, “recognized the need to regain momentum” during the match against Namibia, writes The Telegraph. To do this, he selected “an extremely strong team.” So strong that “their opponents couldn’t escape.” The Blues built their “dominant victory” after “forty phenomenal minutes” then a second half during which they offered a rugby recital against very weak Namibians.
Final result, 96-0, the largest victory in the history of the French rugby team, after tries from Damian Penaud (three), Jonathan Danty (two), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (two), Charles Ollivon (two) and Thibaud Flament (one). With, at the helm, an Antoine Dupont (a try) “hypnotizing before half-time”, writes The Telegraph.
Before the match, the Namibian press, like the Namibian Sun, expected the French team to deliver “an overwhelming performance”. That’s exactly what she did, much to the chagrin of the local German-language daily Allgemeine Zeitung. “Last night wasn’t much like a rugby match at a World Cup. The French played a relaxed friendly match at the Stade-Vélodrome in Marseille”.
But, for Namibia, the essential is elsewhere. Indeed, the sites of the country’s main newspapers, including the Afrikaans-language newspaper Republikein, have set up a countdown to the Welwitschias’ next match, against Uruguay, their best chance of winning their first victory in World Cup.
