Despite the record 96-0 victory Thursday evening against Namibia in Marseille, there was only one subject on the agenda for the debriefing of the Blues match this Friday morning: the injury of Antoine Dupont. Laurent Labit, coach of the backs of the French XV, answered questions and asked for patience regarding the fate of his best player.
Can you give us any news about Antoine Dupont?
LAURENT LABIT. We are worried. The evening was difficult for us but we are not going to make plans too early. We will wait for the surgeon’s verdict regarding Antoine’s unavailability. We will wait 48 or 72 hours to find out what will happen.
Is he still in the hospital?
He should be out this morning, then come back for exams in 2 or 3 days.
Do you think the World Cup will be over?
We still have hope that he will continue the adventure with the XV of France. We will give ourselves time to get the opinion of the specialist, who has the capacity to say what exactly is happening and to know what can be done. They will then make the decision, but we don’t want to plan too quickly. We prepared for the possibility of injuries. We know that a World Cup is very long, and that a lot can happen, especially in our sport with a lot of commitment. We prepared for all that but for us, Antoine has not finished the competition, we are not going to make plans for the comet.
What is his state of mind?
He assumed the worst until the first tests were done. Fabien (Galthié) went to see him, now we are waiting a lot for the meeting with the specialist to find out what can be considered and when he could return to training. He is geared towards that.
Is he willing to take risks to resume sooner?
We talk among ourselves, we exchange a little but we don’t have the specialist’s diagnosis. We are also waiting for Antoine’s feelings, he has a hematoma. So we really have to wait 48 hours or 72 hours to take stock of the situation. But we know that we are not dealing with an ordinary subject, from someone who is in active life. The doctor knows it and we are waiting for his diagnosis then Antoine Dupont will make the decision. It is first of all the specialist who will give the final verdict and the duration of absence. And it’s Antoine who will decide what he wants to do, and we will comply with that. Everything can be considered.
How is the morale of the troops?
Everyone is waiting, like every time there is an injured player. But we know that there is always a lot going on in a competition like this. We have already experienced it with Paul (Willemse) and Romain (Ntamack). We have a very strong, very close group, who appreciate each other a lot. So when a player is in difficulty, everyone has difficulty. But it is certain that despite the good performance yesterday, we had a bitter taste after the meeting with this injury.
How to avoid disrupting the XV of France?
The only thing we have going for us is time. There, we have two weeks without a match, with three days of rest until Sunday evening. The players will spend time with their loved ones, it will do them good. Then, we have two weeks to work well, support them, discuss. But Antoine stays with us, everyone will be together.
What was his expected playing time against Namibia?
We had planned changes at half-time, they were made. Every match day, we have a meeting with the coaches to talk about the match and the coaching we are planning. We planned to change the two pillars and a second row, which was done. Concerning Antoine and Matthieu, we had imagined taking them out in the 50th minute. But whether it’s at the 50th or before, there are always the risks that go with it in our sport. We have to deal with it.
Who will replace him for the match against Italy (October 6)?
We have three scrum halves, Baptiste Couilloud had a very good start yesterday and Maxime Lucu has been with us for a very long time. We have three days of recovery, then we will look forward to the Italy match. We will do as always, discuss with the coaches to put the best team against Italy according to our strategy. Max is a very good finisher, that could be a formula used. We can start Max and put Baptiste on the bench as well. We will take the time to look at our opponent.
