Antoine Dupont will be assessed by the surgeon who operated on his fractured cheekbone before staff decide if he can return for a possible World Cup quarter-final.

Dupont, who underwent surgery after suffering the injury in a clash of heads with Johan Deysel in the 96-0 drubbing of Namibia on September 21, will see the surgeon on Monday, France’s medical director Bruno Boussagol said.

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“Until we have the medical opinion, he can’t start playing rugby again. If we get the green light and the prerequisites, there will be a progressive return,” Boussagol said.

“We will wait for the surgeon’s opinion to see if we can envisage him returning for a possible quarter-final.”

Boussagol said the scrum-half’s return to the squad at their training base in Aix-en-Provence this weekend had gone well.

“We quickly moved to running drills. Everything is going normally with Antoine. The next step will be a visit to the surgeon on Monday for a final check.

“Then we’ll have to see how he reacts — will he have all of his abilities and no apprehension?” Boussagol said.

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“The third step is that the coaches need to take the final decision after talking to Antoine,” he added.

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Dupont, 26, will be hoping to return for a possible quarter-final likely to be against reigning champions South Africa on October 15.

France are top of Pool A with 13 points and need to beat Italy in Lyon on Friday to finish top of the group.

© Agence France-Presse

Photo: Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP