Two pieces of information to remember from Saturday morning

Antoine Dupont will return on Saturday evening to the base camp of the French XV in Aix-en-Provence. The half-half and Blues captain received the go-ahead from Frédéric Luers, the surgeon who operated on his broken cheekbones a week ago in Toulouse. He will be able to resume “gradual and directed physical activity under the supervision of the 15th medical staff of France,” the federation indicated on Saturday morning in a press release.

This quick return of Antoine Dupont, eight days after his injury against Namibia, is of course excellent news for the French camp even if it seems impossible for the Toulouse team to participate next Friday against the Italians in Lyon.

“Antoine will first resume cycling, that is, cycling activity, which should be possible quickly, that is, at the beginning of the week,” said Bruno Bousgol, director of the health unit of the 15th Hospital of the city of Antoine. France. This progress will be conditional on his feelings. He will have an athletics restart after a week of rest. The resumption of rugby will also be conditional on the green light from the surgeon. »

A new race against time begins for Antoine Dupont, with one goal: to qualify for the quarter-finals scheduled for October 15 at the Stade de France if France finishes first in the group.

Italy has been destroyed but beware of the trap

It would be an exaggeration to say that Italy fell from a high on Friday evening in Lyon. Perhaps intoxicated by their fairly easy wins over Namibia and Uruguay, and also by the uncertainty surrounding the start of the World Cup in New Zealand, the Italians bore the brunt of the anger and proud reaction from the All Blacks (96-17). ). A defeat of XXL proportions in a clash between two top-tier teams.

“They destroyed us,” noted Italian coach Kieran Crawley, a former All Black player. It was training for them. We won 33% of our scrums, and 50% of our touches. We need to throw this match in the trash. “We may never watch this match again. We have to think about next week.”

Next Friday, the Italians will face the Blues in Lyon in the “almost” real round of 16. The beating the All Blacks took doesn’t change the equation. A defeat would eliminate the Blues (13 points) and advance the Italians (10 points) unless the Blues lost by a double bonus (defeat by seven points or less and four tries scored) without the Squadra scoring an attacking bonus. In this theory, France will end with fifteen points and Italy with fourteen points. This is an unlikely scenario.