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The classy message England have sent to the injured Antoine Dupont
By Liam Heagney
England sent their regards to the injured Antoine Dupont shortly after it was confirmed on Friday morning that the France skipper had suffered a fractured cheekbone in Thursday’s win over Namibia.
The Rugby World Cup hosts hammered the African minnows 96-0 in Marseille but the major talking point was the 45th-minute exit of the French skipper after a red-carded tackle from Johan Deysel.
The injury threatens the participation of arguably the world’s current best player in the remainder of the tournament as no definitive time frame has been established for his cheekbone to heel.
England, though, reckon that Dupont will play again at the finals and, ahead of the pool match on Saturday versus Chile in Lille, they sent the scrum-half their best wishes for a speedy recovery.
“On behalf of everyone connected with England Rugby, we’d like to pass on our best wishes to Antoine and hope for a speedy recovery,” said assistant Kevin Sinfield after England had completed their eve of stadium visit.
“Disappointing for the competition at this moment in time but we have no doubt he will be back. World-class players like that get themselves right very, very quickly and I am sure he is doing everything he can.
“I know if it is a facial fracture there will be a period of time but we have seen players play before with facial fractures so I suspect he will be back on his feet and back available very, very soon and like I said, we wish him all the best.”
Danny Care, Dupont’s fellow No9, added: “I echo what Kev said, we all send him our best. At the World Cup, you want to see the best players. Antoine is the best player in the world so we want to see him back there in a French shirt.
“The one thing you know about him is he is tough and I’m sure if he is able he will be back in a French shirt. You saw the way they played last night [Thursday] with him fizzing around, he is pretty special. For the tournament, you want to see the best players playing so we wish him a speedy recovery.”
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Victoire de Toulon malgré un déplacement en Afrique du Sud le weekend précédent.
Meilleurs que les Bulls et les Sharks?
Non, seulement une meilleure gestion de l'effectif de joueurs !
Go to commentsJust hire a South African, you know you want to. Get Jake White in, he has coveted the job for many years or give the job to Franco Smith, he would jump at it given the opportunity to take the Glasgow game to the Wallabies. Johan Ackermann is no longer free but he would accept any forthcoming offers and if you feel like poaching a young talent go for JP Pietersen or Joey Mongalo who have earned a pretty decent reputation with the Sharks. Jacques Fourie would make you defend all day so he's a no go but Dobbo will make you play the right way and with his creative writing qualification he will put a fanciful spin on any story. Cash Van Rooyen knows how to get a tune out of young players and make a sum equal more than its parts. If you are feeling like taking a wild punt go for attack guru and winner of the award for most biased SA rugby pundit of all time then your man is Swys De Bruin. If you are in the market for some almost South Africans just go for Plumtree, Felix Jones or even for the new kid on the block, Tony Brown. If you are feeling really adventurous and I mean really adventurous plump for Alistair Coetzee who would I'm sure love a change after the regular beatings he took with Namibia and of course if you wanna play it safe just get in Jacques Nienaber who will give you his own refined, extra-special brand of strong South African conservatism. Lets be real though, the best appointment would be Stevie L who coaches half the Aussie team already so why not give him the other half and see what he can do. A good coach who has trained with the best and whom has a good world view of the game. He is ready for higher honours, has the pedigree and is also well liked by the media. He is a world cup winner and is greatly respected in the game. A worthy candidate for sure.
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