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Suggestions made Ireland should now lose to South Africa to face Dupont-less France

Mack Hansen of Ireland is tackled by Antoine Dupont of France during the Six Nations Rugby match between Ireland and France at Aviva Stadium on February 11, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The Rugby World Cup was delivered a fateful blow just minutes into the second half of France’s lopsided victory over Namibia when superstar scrumhalf Antoine Dupont was forced from the field clutching his face.

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Dupont was rushed to hospital for X-rays which confirmed a fracture of the jaw which will require surgery following the high tackle that felled him.

The length of recovery time is uncertain, with some believing he will be out for six weeks and will miss the remainder of the tournament.

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Others believe he has a chance to make it back in time for the back-end of the tournament but even a quarter-final appearance may be a stretch.

Such is the enormity of Dupont’s presence that suggestions have been made now that France is the preferred quarter-final opponent of the two Pool B qualifiers.

The world’s number one and two ranked sides, Ireland and South Africa, will face off on Saturday night with the loser likely to finish runners-up in Pool B and draw the Pool A winners, which France will secure barring a shock loss to Italy.

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There have been suggestions made that Ireland fans would prefer to lose their blockbuster pool clash with South Africa in order to face France.

Ireland, who are searching for their first-ever quarter-final win at a World Cup, beat France 32-19 in Dublin during the Six Nations back in February.

With France now potentially missing both star halves, Romain Ntamack and Dupont, Ireland’s chances of progressing by beating France have no doubt increased.

The other potential opponent is New Zealand, who Ireland beat in a series last year 2-1 at home.

However, many warned that the loss of Dupont could ‘galvanise’ France and bring out the best of them as they fight on for their leader. The depth of Fabien Galthie’s side is not to be underestimated.

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Others wanted to see Ireland continue to win to maintain momentum, while losing against South Africa could make the Scotland clash a do-or-die knockout scenario.

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Comments

11 Comments
P
PJSingh 675 days ago

Meanwhile somewhere in Lyon, the darkness is lurking and ready to pounce.

P
Paul 675 days ago

Theres not a side in this competition that would play a game that they have plans on losing

p
pc 675 days ago

Fake news. As if there is a preference here. France is definitely lengthened a bit. Psychological blow for them. But SA lost Marx this week so they also lost a bit. Right now only NZ from top 4 is intact. My rankings for now are Ireland>France>NZ>SA. Why NZ. Well they have 4 critical players coming back. And the SA 7-1 split plus only having 1 hooker when set piece is critical part of your game. Its going to bite them any day now.

b
bob 676 days ago

Maybe the Boks try and throw the game, or both of them do, or Rassie throws a tantrum , or the whole crowd throw up. Or maybe they both just try and win.

B
Bob Marler 675 days ago

For both teams, today is a must win.


Scotland and Ireland could decide the pool. Especially if Ireland were to lose today.


The idea that anyone would prefer to lose a game is absurd.

R
Rico 676 days ago

The arrogance of Fabien Galthie apparent for all to see - there was absolutely no reason for him to go out for the second half.

T
TheGun 676 days ago

I agree Kim, pro move to swing into the other side of the draw at this stage!

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 676 days ago

Hope Scotland uses this to actually put in a performance against the Irish. The premise is patronizingly absurd

A
Ace 676 days ago

Really? Who made these suggestions?


Let me guess. It was some anonymous person, speaking off the record in a dimly lit backroom.


Any suggestion that either SA or Ireland would deliberately throw a game to have an "easier" passage to the next round is reprehensible and an insult to the integrity of both teams.


Ridiculous "report".

G
GrandDisse 676 days ago

Would be funny to see Ireland lose on purpose, just to get an off performance against Scotland and out of the WC in the pool stages. I don't believe Ireland nor SA to be that stupid though.

G
Graham 676 days ago

Agreed. Someone in a pub makes a joke that it would be better to lose to France and hey presto it's attributed to "Irish fans".

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J
JW 25 minutes ago
Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

“In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

30 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

147 Go to comments
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