Cédric Chasseur with AFP / Photo credits: CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP
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9:53 a.m., September 22, 2023
A festival of tests, players who make themselves “pleasure” by finding an exciting game, discipline once again there but a concern regarding captain Antoine Dupont: what to remember from the record victory (96- 0) of the Blues against Namibia on Thursday in Marseille.
Another bad evening for Dupont at the Vélodrome
The scrum half and captain of the XV of France, Antoine Dupont, definitely has no luck with the Stade Vélodrome. Last November, against the Springboks, he received a red card after being the author of a dangerous tackle on South African winger Cheslin Kolbe. An evening in Marseille of which he had “very mixed memories”, as he confided on Tuesday at a press conference.
Thursday evening, the Toulouse player, not on his best day against New Zealand, initially regained all his verve. Facing the modest Namibians, the No.9 of the Blues accumulated the assists, perfectly measured his kicking game, multiplied the slaloms in the opposing defense and the restarts which made his notoriety, even offering himself a try before the break (38th). But, as the second period had just started, he was hit on the head by his “Welwitschias” counterpart Johan Deysel who, for his action, received a yellow card, transformed by the “bunker” into red.
There is a “suspicion of a crack or fracture on the maxilla” (jaw) for Dupont, who had to undergo examinations, explained coach Fabien Galthié at the microphone of France 2 after the match.
“We’re crossing our fingers that it’s not very serious”
“We were in a good place, we put in some good attempts but we are waiting to know what Toto (Antoine Dupont, editor’s note) has, we know the importance he has in the group, what he clears it. We’re crossing our fingers that it’s not very serious. You all know the relationship I have with him, he’s like a brother. I’m waiting like everyone else, I tried to call him. But it’s annoying. When we see the images, it’s a pretty violent shock… He’s waiting for the scan, I hope he’s not in too much pain. It tarnishes the evening a little , there’s a lot of stress. He took a big hit. In the locker room, afterwards, of course we’re happy from an accounting point of view but the locker room wasn’t celebrating tonight,” said his teammate Cyril Baille .
The Blues have found their game again
After the laborious victory against Uruguay (27-12), the Blues coach in charge of the attack Laurent Labit was harsh towards his players: “for the moment, we had a good second half against New Zealand and a bad match against Uruguay. It’s too little.”
The Blues, who had therefore “lost” their game against Uruguay, have indeed found it again. They especially took advantage of the opponent’s weakness to refine their ranges before their last group match against Italy, on October 6 in Lyon.
Variety of launches, multiplicity of combinations mixing front and three-quarters, privileged penalties, judicious use of kicking, accelerations to break through the defense… We saw in Marseille everything that rugby can offer in terms of play offensive, with a seduced public and the greatest success in the history of the XV of France.
A hat-trick and doubles galore
By scoring a hat-trick, his 31st, 32nd and 33rd international tries (6th, 21st, 54th), former Clermontois Damian Penaud, designated “man of the match”, moved a little closer to the record held by the former Biarritz fullback Serge Blanco (38).
In one evening and for his 45th selection, the 26-year-old surpassed the number of tries scored by former Agen winger Philippe Sella (31), then that of former international and current Montpellier manager Philippe Saint -André (32).
His friend on the other wing, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, barely 20 years old and with fiery legs, scored a double (40+1st, 64th), his 3rd and 4th tries in the blue jersey in only five selections.
For his first match in the World Cup, after missing the first two matches of the World Cup due to a muscle injury in his thigh, center Jonathan Danty pleased himself by also signing a double (9th, 26th).
Discipline at the rank of its best standards
Against Uruguay, France conceded fifteen penalties, which the second row of the French XV Cameron Woki described as “enormous” and “even unacceptable at international level”. Against Namibia, the blue discipline took charge to concede only 4 penalties (compared to 12 for Namibia), as against New Zealand.