"It’s not up to Antoine Dupont to decide" : the cash opinion of the president of the FFR on his return from injury

In an interview published this Thursday, September 28, 2023, the president of the French Rugby Federation reacted for the first time to the injury of French scrum half Antoine Dupont and his possible return to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Will or will not return for the rest of the 2023 Rugby World Cup? After Antoine Dupont’s facial fracture last week during the France-Namibia match, from which the Blues emerged victorious with a stratospheric score (96 to 0), everyone is wondering today if the captain of the XV of France will be back in time for the French team’s last group match against Italy on October 6. But especially for the quarter-final (probable) against South Africa on Sunday October 15. While opinions differ, Florian Grill, the new president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), spoke for the first time on this subject in the columns of our colleagues in Le Parisien this Thursday, September 28.

“You have to trust the specialists” : Florian Grill, the president of the FFR, reacts to the possible return of Antoine Dupont after his injury

While the daily underlines the growing concern regarding the return of the rugby player judged “too early“by some, the response of the president elected three months ago at the head of the FFR is categorical: “I want to say and repeat what the staff has been saying from the beginning: it’s the surgeon (Professor Frédéric Lauwers of the Purpan University Hospital in Toulouse) who will say whether or not Antoine Dupont can play“, he recalled. And to add: “You have to trust the specialists and there is no better specialist than the person who operated on him.” There is therefore no point in speculating for the moment, according to the 57-year-old French leader.

Antoine Dupont injured: “The mask wouldn’t change much”

During the interview, Florian Grill also returned to the comments of Olivier Magne, former international player, who believes that the return of Antoine Dupont so early in the competition is risky: “Everyone has the right to think what they want but, from a medical point of view, if there is one person who is well placed to decide, it is the surgeon who operated on Antoine and who will have the last word. It’s not up to Antoine Dupont to decide alone, not up to the coach either, even if Fabien Galthié will decide whether or not it makes sense, sportingly, to field him.”, he indicated. Finally, regarding the possibility for the captain of the Blues to return to the game provided he wears a mask, the president of the FFR preferred not to move forward too quickly: “Before talking about mask or no mask, the decision belongs to the doctor. From what I understand, in Antoine’s case, the mask would not change much, except perhaps psychologically”concluded Florian Grill.