“The locker room was not celebrating,” breathes Cyril Baille. Surprising when you have just won a Rugby World Cup match 96-0 and have finally returned to the field six weeks after an injury, as is the case with the Toulouse pillar. It’s less so when we know that this historic victory was perhaps accompanied by the biggest disappointment of this World Cup at home: the loss to injury of captain Antoine Dupont, the best scrum half in the world, who left for exams. in hospital in Marseille as soon as he left the field in the 46th minute.
The Blues staff are giving themselves another 48 hours to assess the injury, but they fear at least 4 weeks of unavailability in the event of a fracture of the orbital floor. Or a return, at best, for a possible semi-final.
In the aisles of the Vélodrome stadium on Thursday evening, Dupont’s teammates were also waiting. “It tarnishes the evening,” continues Cyril Baille, visibly marked by emotion. There is a lot of stress. I hope it’s not serious. He went out, he took a big hit. We know what he gives off humanly. It’s my friend. I tried calling him, he must still be doing the scan.”
But those who know him well fear the worst. Because “Toto” never leaves the field for nothing. “Immediately, when I see him put his hand in his hair and on his head, I think he’s in a lot of pain,” breathes Baille. His Toulouse teammate François Cros even “first believed in coaching. But at the end of the match we learned that it could be serious…” Full-back Melvyn Jaminet first thinks of a simple concussion protocol: “We know that Antoine doesn’t come out for nothing, if he goes out it’s because he has a physical problem.”
“Antoine, it’s rare that he grimaces”
“At the time, we had just taken a try (finally refused, Editor’s note) on an interception, everyone went under the posts And from the first image on the giant screen, we understood. He was caught late, he was hit, we saw this head-to-head collision…” says Charles Ollivon. The XV of France then realizes that it is undoubtedly more serious than expected.
“It’s certainly rare to see Antoine go out with his hand on his face,” confirms Thomas Ramos. But I don’t want to be too worried so as not to bring him bad luck…” “We suspected there was something when we saw him holding his head. We know Antoine, it’s rare that he grimaces, adds Pierre Bourgarit, another friend of Dupont, a Gersois like him. This is the downside this evening. Fingers crossed for him. For us too… “
Because Antoine Dupont is more than just a player in this French XV on a mission towards its first world title. “Antoine is someone who doesn’t talk a lot but when he does he always has the right word,” emphasizes François Cros. “He is a leader in group life, in what he gives off and what he does on the pitch,” adds Gaël Fickou. All the Blues are now awaiting the verdict regarding their captain. “It was a chill, we don’t want to lose players on an evening like that,” fears Jaminet. Unfortunately, it’s sport, it’s rugby. » A very cruel sport sometimes.
