“Within a few days”, Antoine Dupont will be able to join his teammates from the French XV in Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), the French Rugby Federation (FFR) announced in a press release, Saturday September 23 . The captain and scrum half of the Blues, victim of a “maxillo-zygomatic fracture” during the match against Namibia, was operated on the evening before, specifies the text. The player “will be able to return to the French team in a process of gradual sporting resumption and under medical supervision”, added the FFR. The exact resumption date is therefore not yet known.

Thursday evening, at the Stade-Vélodrome in Marseille, during the third match of the group stage of the Tricolores in the World Cup, he came out in the 46th minute, hit in the maxillary bone located in the jaw and the zygomatic bone, higher at the cheekbone, after a failed tackle by Namibian captain Johan Deysel.

The next day, Antoine Dupont returned to Toulouse to consult specialists and “do additional imaging examinations” in order to determine the seriousness of his injury, Didier Lacroix, the president of his team, explained to Agence France-Presse. club, Stade Toulouse.

“For us, Antoine did not finish the competition”

Questioned by Le Monde, Jean Chazal, neurosurgeon and professor of anatomy, explained that the scrum half is injured at the confluence of the eye orbit, the oral cavity and the sinuses, “a strategic and complex region, d ‘extreme sensitivity and of great functional importance’. At best, the captain gets away with a small crack and four weeks of downtime, estimated the specialist, for whom “it would not be very reasonable”. His return, in this hypothesis, would take place at the earliest for the semi-finals of the competition.

Asked whether we can hope to see Antoine Dupont on the pitch again by the end of the World Cup, the coach of the French attack, Laurent Labit, warned during a press briefing on Friday that the choice will ultimately be made by the player, in agreement with the medical specialists, before adding: “For us, Antoine has not finished the competition. »

The next meeting of the French XV in the World Cup is scheduled for Friday October 6, against Italy. The Blues hope to be able to count on their captain and master of play from the start of the final stages: the quarters will take place on October 14 and 15.