Antoine Dupont injury overshadows France’s record win over Namibia

A rampant France demolished Namibia 96-0 in Marseille, with Damian Penaud plundering a hat-trick of tries as the hosts achieved a record score to maintain their perfect start to the World Cup. However, the victors saw Antoine Dupont go off with a potential serious facial injury.

Reports in France suggest Dupont had suffered a fractured cheekbone, which could put his participation in the rest of the tournament in doubt.

The scrum-half was forced off early in the second half following a clash of heads with Johan Deysel, with the Namibia captain shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin before it was upgraded to a red following a bunker review by the TMO.

Dupont was in tears as he left the field for an assessment, having taken a sickening blow to the side of his face, and did not return.

“Antoine got a big hit on his face and we will do some exams to make sure nothing is wrong with him, but he is a strong guy and we can rely on his strength,” France’s general team manager, Raphaël Ibañez, said in a pitchside interview broadcast on ITV Sport. “We feel sorry for Antoine. It just reminds us how dangerous it can be with a head-to-head contact.”

Les Bleus’s head coach, Fabien Galthié, again made sweeping changes after a laboured victory over Uruguay, which was in stark contrast to the impressive performance that and saw off the three-time world champions New Zealand in the tournament’s opening match.

France wasted little time in going on the offensive as a crossfield kick from Dupont, returning to skipper the side, picked out Penaud, who went over in the right corner in the seventh minute.

It remained one-way traffic as Jonathan Danty scored after being set up by a fine inside ball from Louis Bielle-Biarrey before a blistering break down the right saw a string of passes put flanker Charles Ollivon clear to run in. Penaud then weaved through to secure the bonus-point try inside just 22 minutes, with Thomas Ramos again making the conversion.

Dupont added another himself before his sublime angled kick-on-the-run found Bielle-Biarrey charging into the left corner as France coasted into the break with a 54-0 lead.

Namibia – who conceded 18 tries in their previous two Pool A matches – thought they were on the scoresheet when the substitute Divan Rossouw ran clear after latching on to an interception. The try, though, was ruled out by the television match official for an incident in the buildup for the clash involving Deysel on Dupont.

Baptiste Couilloud wasted little time after coming on as a replacement, going over from a maul as France soon further extended their advantage. Couilloud then raced clear on to an interception for what looked another quick breakaway try but it was ruled out for a late tackle off the ball by the French prop Reda Wardi.

As the hour mark approached, Penaud dived over to complete his hat-trick with France’s 10th try before Bielle-Biarrey sprinted clear across into the right corner and Ollivon then burst through the middle. Namibia were soon cut open again by more quick French passing, with Melvyn Jaminet surging clear with the conversion bringing up a new record score, passing the 87-10 win over the same opponents at the 2007 World Cup.

France were awarded a late penalty try after a maul collapsed, with Jason Benade sent to the sin-bin to compound a forgettable evening for Namibia as the partisan Marseille crowd revelled at the final whistle. PA Media