6N: France v Scotland: Antoine Dupont confirms ruptured cruciate ligament
Yesterday at 10:23 AM
ANTOINE DUPONT will not only miss France’s final match of this year’s Six Nations campaign against Scotland in Paris next Saturday, but faces between six and 12 months on the sidelines recovering from cruciate ligament rupture in his left knee during France’s big win over Ireland in Dublin yesterday.
The French scrum-half and captain – who by common consent has been the best player on the planet in recent years – has confirmed the injury on his social media channels, stating that: “The heart hurts even more than the knee when you have to leave your friends before the last step. I am proud of what we accomplished yesterday and with all my strength with you, you will do it. Rupture of the cruciate ligaments. This is the beginning of a new challenge, I’ll see you in a few months on the field.”
Le coeur est encore plus douloureux que le genou au moment de devoir abandonner les copains avant la dernière marche. Je suis fier de ce que nous avons accompli hier et de toutes mes forces avec vous, vous allez le faire.
Rupture des ligaments croisés. C'est le début d'un nouveau… pic.twitter.com/shQK4PSLsk— 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝗨𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗧 (@Dupont9A) March 9, 2025
The injury was suffered in the 28th minute of yesterday’s match with members of the French camp, media commentators and fans expressing anger at the nature of the incident, which involved Ireland second-row Tadhg Beirne and prop Andrew Porter collapsing on to Dupont’s knee while attempting a clear-out. It is the same injury as Dupont suffered against Ireland in 2018.
France head coach Fabien Galthie described the incident as "reprehensible", and said he had highlighted the actions of Beirne, Porter and Calvin Nash, who received a 20-minute red card for a high tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi, in his post-match report to the citing commissioner.
"We are angry and we want an explanation; so, we have cited two players,” he said. “We must protect our players."
All three complaints have been dismissed by the citing commissioner, according to L’Equipe newspaper.
France were 0-5 ahead when they lost Dupont, and went on to charge into an astonishing 42-13 lead before two Irish tries in the final three minutes salvaged some respectability on the scoreboard for the hosts. So, while the talismanic scrum-half’s absence next week is a setback for Les Bleus, it is not likely to critically undermine their push for Six Nations glory.
Midi Olympique, the respected and generally accurate French rugby newspaper, has reported than Baptiste Serin has been called up by France as injury cover ahead of next weekend’s match, opening up the possibility of two Toulon scrum-halves – Serin and Ben White – facing-off against each other on the international pitch.
6N: Scotland v Wales: Gregor Townsend delivers Rory Darge injury update
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