The sentence fell for Antoine Dupont. The scrum half and captain of the XV of France has been suspended for four weeks, World Rugby said in a press release on Thursday (November 17th). A sanction which follows the red card received at the start of the second period during the victory of the Blues against South Africa (30-26), Saturday, November 12.
The Toulouse player was guilty of a dangerous tackle on South African winger Cheslin Kolbe, then in the air upon receiving a kick and which fell on the head. “The fault is there. Even if it is not voluntary, we have seen it, he tips over, he could have hurt himself »he admitted just after the match.
Only three weeks of suspension for du Toit
The World Rugby Disciplinary Committee, before which the Toulouse player appeared on Wednesday November 16, initially imposed an eight-week suspension on him, but lowered it by half because of his clean “record” – this was the first red card of his career − and his apology.
After their victories against Australia (30-29) on November 5 and South Africa a week later, the Blues will therefore have to do without their starting scrum half for their last test match of the autumn tour against Japan, Sunday, in Toulouse. The Bordelais Maxime Lucu should replace him, while Charles Ollivon will recover the captain’s armband.
Antoine Dupont will also miss three other matches, this time with his Stade Toulousain club: two Top 14 matches, against Lyon and Perpignan, as well as the trip to the European Cup with the Irish of Munster, on December 11.
Also excluded during the match between France and the Boks, the South African Pieter-Steph du Toit was sentenced to a three-week suspension. A sanction which has also been halved (six weeks initially), for the same reasons as Dupont. The third line had however been the author of a dangerous clearing on Jonathan Danty while the latter was on the ground in a regrouping.