Rugby World Cup: “Antoine Dupont suffered a lot of pressure and we didn’t relieve him too much,” regrets Romain Ntamack

During a long interview he gave to Midi Olympique, Romain Ntamack returned to the management of Antoine Dupont's injury during the World Cup. If the opening half of Stade Toulousain and the XV of France experienced this series from a distance, he who had been forced to withdraw from the competition after suffering a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of a knee on August 12, his feelings undoubtedly come from the exchanges he was able to have with his hinge partner.

“Whether in the media, in sport, etc., Antoine is not an extraterrestrial, he is a human being. Certainly, he is a very great rugby player but he has been under a lot of pressure. He had a lot of weight on his shoulders. Antoine is someone who keeps many things to himself but we made him carry too many things and we didn't give him much relief in that regard,” regrets Romain Ntamack.

The hero of the last Top 14 final believes that the Dupont case has taken on too much importance and undoubtedly undermined the confidence of the Blues before this decisive quarter-final against South Africa. “Even though Antoine had a great World Cup, we had the impression, when he was injured, that it was almost over for the France team. We must not forget that, even when he is not there, there are other players on the pitch…”

We can regret, in fact, that the staff, through its repeated concern at the idea of ​​being deprived of Antoine Dupont for this match, did not put his understudy, Maxime Lucu, and the rest of the team in the best psychological conditions before facing the Springboks, title holders.