This time, he put on the helmet from the start of training. The captain of the Blues mingled again with his teammates for a contact session this Wednesday on the lawn of the Parc stadium in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine). Entering the field shortly before 1 p.m., the Blues warmed up then launched into an opposition, starters against substitutes, four days before the clash against South Africa on Sunday (9 p.m.) at the Stade de France in the quarter-finals. World Cup final.
Antoine Dupont, who received the green light on Monday from the surgeon who operated on him on September 22 in Toulouse for a maxillo-zygomatic fracture, however avoided repeated contact. Wearing a black helmet, the scrum half from Stade Toulouse held his position on the throws of play then he slid to the wing on each defensive action. And his adversaries had the watchword to spare him. Thus, scrum half Baptiste Couilloud, escaped on the left wing, lay down to avoid the collision.
The probable French team against South Africa: Ramos – Penaud, Fickou, Danty, Bielle-Biarrey – (o) Jalibert, (m) Dupont (cap.) – Ollivon, Alldrit, Jelonch – Flament, Woki – Atonio , Mauvaka, Yawn.
The day before, Antoine Dupont had started the session normally, chaining runs and passes, even colliding head-on with fly-half Matthieu Jalibert. But after a quarter of an hour, he put on a black helmet and proceeded in the same way, moving to the wing during the defensive phases. “We tested to see what it gave, to find out if it really protected or not,” explained Laurent Labit, the assistant coach in charge of three-quarters, on Tuesday evening. We wanted to check if his vision was impaired. In his hearing too, even if there was not the same noise, the same atmosphere in Rueil-Malmaison as at the Stade de France. We tried with or without. A decision will be made at the end of the week. »
Apparently the player is getting used to his headset. At the end of the high-intensity collective training, Antoine Dupont devoted around ten minutes to a tackling session with physical trainer Nicolas Jeanjean. He first performed a series of ankle tackles, before practicing at torso height. This Thursday, the entire group will be resting. The composition of the team will be announced by coach Fabien Galthié on Friday (11:30 a.m.) at Roland-Garros.
