Dupont injury spoils record night as Les Bleus demolish Namibia

Inspirational captain forced off amid blizzard of tries in Marseille with World Cup hosts left to wait anxiously on facial injury

France's Antoine Dupont receives treatment after taking a knock to the head during the Rugby World Cup Pool A match between France and Namibia at the Stade de Marseille in Marseille, France, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

France 96 Namibia 0 

Rampant France demolished Namibia 96-0, with Damian Penaud plundering a hat-trick of tries as the hosts set a new record score to maintain their perfect start to the World Cup.

However, the victors saw captain Antoine Dupont go off with a potential serious facial injury in the Marseille clash.

According to France 2, Dupont was taken to hospital to undergo examinations. In addition to the suspected concussion, the scrum-half may have suffered a fracture. Examinations will determine whether this is the case with France's next game not until October 6 against Italy. However a facial fracture and the potential severity of it could have a monumental impact on the hosts' hopes. 

Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie had again made sweeping changes following a laboured victory over Uruguay, which was in stark contrast to the impressive performance which saw off three-time world champions New Zealand in the tournament's opening match.

France wasted little time in going on the offensive as a crossfield kick from Dupont, returning to skipper the side, picked out Penaud, who went over in the right corner in the seventh minute.

It remained one-way traffic as Jonathan Danty scored after being set up by a fine inside ball from Louis Bielle-Biarrey before a blistering break down the right saw a string of passes put flanker Charles Ollivon clear to run in.

Penaud weaved through to secure the bonus-point try inside just 22 minutes, with Thomas Ramos again making the conversion.

Scrum-half Dupont added another himself before his sublime angled kick-on-the-run found Bielle-Biarrey charging into the left corner as France coasted into the break with a commanding 54-0 lead.

Namibia thought they were on the scoresheet when substitute Divan Rossouw ran clear after latching onto an interception. The try, though, was ruled out by the TMO for an incident in the build-up for a clash involving Johan Deysel on Dupont.

Welwitschias captain Deysel was shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin for head-on-head contact with Dupont, who went off for assessment on what looked could be a serious cheekbone injury. Following a bunker review, the card was upgraded to red.

Baptiste Couilloud wasted little time after coming on as a replacement, going over from a maul as France soon further extended their advantage.

As the hour mark approached, Penaud dived over to completed his hat-trick with France's 10th try before Bielle-Biarrey sprinted clear across into the right corner and Ollivon then burst through the middle.

Namibia were cut open again by more quick French passing, with Melvyn Jaminet surging clear with the conversion bringing up a new record score, passing the 87-10 win over the same opponents at the 2007 World Cup.

France were awarded a late penalty try after a maul collapsed as the partisan Marseille crowd revelled at the final whistle.

PA