France scrumhalf Antoine Dupont may have suffered a broken jaw in a high tackle during the World Cup thrashing of Namibia in Marseille on Thursday night.
The influential Dupont, who had earlier scored a try, left the pitch on Thursday in the 46th minute of a 96-0 win for Les Bleus nursing his right cheekbone after former Sharks centre Johan Deysel made a badly-timed head-on-head tackle and was sent off.
“We have a suspected cracked or fractured jaw. We will wait for scans before moving forward,” Galthie told reporters post-match.
According to a report in French newspaper Midi Olympique, sources claim that Dupont has suffered a fracture of the “orbital floor” after being hit in the right cheekbone.
It is understood he was taken for examinations at a private hospital in Aix-en-Provence, and it has been speculated that Dupont is doubtful to feature in the quarter-finals.
The loss of the 26-year-old halfback, widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, would be a severe blow to host nation France’s chances of winning the World Cup for the first time.
Namibia coach Allister Coetzee called Deysel’s tackle an “unfortunate accident”.
“This is the way the game’s going,” the former Springbok coach said. “It’s unintentional, it happened so quickly. Dupont is not the tallest guy. Johan is a clean player, he’s got no record of cards in the past, and he’s a great defender.
“It’s not unfair, but it’s a pity it happened to him. He’s the captain, he’s a brave player, he’s the glue of the team and he feels it.”
RECAP: France rout Namibia, but Dupont in doubt
Coetzee added: “It was an accident, an unfortunate one and we had to take that on the chin. He’s cut up right now.”
English referee Matthew Carley initally handed Deysel a yellow card, which was upgraded to red by the bunker review system.
France coach Fabien Galthie admitted that the injury to Dupont had taken the gloss off a French record 14-try victory at the Stade Velodrome.
“Of course when one of our players gets injured, we’re never happy, we’re always extremely concerned,” he said. “It’s not the same thing as if we had no injuries.”
Galthie, who sent a text message to Dupont at the start of the post-match press conference, bristled when questioned if he’d thought about replacing the scrumhalf at half time
“I knew I was going to be asked this,” said the former France captain. “The programme was to change the two props. You can’t change all 15 players at half time. Our plan was that we’re going to rotate the rest of the squad around the 55th minute.
“It was all about giving players game time so they don’t stay inactive for a month. This team wanted to be out there playing.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Nicolas Tucat/AFP