Dupont injury worry overshadows France triumph

Host nation France maintained their unbeaten start at Rugby World Cup 2023 with a 96-0 win against Namibia at Stade de Marseille on Thursday.

Les Bleus scored 14 tries in total, including a hat-trick for Damian Penaud, who moved third in France’s all-time tryscorers list with his 33rd test touchdown, trailing only Serge Blanco (38) and Vincent Clerc (34).

"The tries are anecdotal," Penaud said. "We enjoyed ourselves and we're proud of the people who came to see us, that's the most important thing."

Centre Jonathan Danty and flanker Charles Ollivon scored two tries apiece, while Thomas Ramos kicked 12 conversions for a personal tally of 24 points.

There was some concern for head coach Fabien Galthié, however, as captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont was forced to leave the field early in the second half following a head clash with Namibia captain Johan Deysel, who was shown a red card for the collision.

"There's a suspicion of a crack or fracture in his jaw," Galthié said. "He's gone for tests. We'll wait for the results before moving forward. We need to take advantage of this great victory and the players' fine performance.”

There was better news for back row Anthony Jelonch, who played 54 minutes after returning for the World Cup after serious injury: "It's better than last week [against Uruguay]. I'm feeling a lot better. I really wanted to play again. I've done it."

Namibia head coach Allister Coetzee said: "It was a tough day at the office. I could see the first 20 minutes, they were flustered, they did things out of character, not sticking to the plan and it's just the pressure.

"We have to regroup. Our objective is still alive - to win a game at the World Cup. It's a shame we lost our captain to the red card in the 44th minute. At that stage it was just 50 points and we could have had seven [points], and that could have been the momentum we needed at that point."

Namibia vice-captain Louis van der Westhuizen added: "It's obviously a disappointing result for us and the red card didn't work in our favour. We got outmuscled and outclassed by a quality French side."