FRANCE SCRUM-HALF Antoine Dupont’s appeal against a four-week ban for his mid-air tackle on Cheslin Kolbe has been upheld, meaning he is free to face Munster for Toulouse in the Champions Cup on 11 December.
His suspension for the incident which happened in the game between France and South Africa on 12 November has been cut from four weeks to two weeks, so the 2021 World Player of the Year — instrumental in this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam success — is free to play immediately.
The news comes as a significant boost to his club Toulouse ahead of their trip to Thomond Park next month.
Dupont was sent off and hit with a four-week ban for recklessly tackling former Toulouse colleague, Cheslin Kolbe, in France’s narrow win over South Africa.
Dupont broke Law 9.17 whereby “a player must not tackle, charge, pull, push or grasp an opponent whose feet are off the ground”.
The Appeal Committee decided that a breach of Law 9.17 “does not mandate a minimum entry point of mid-range (eight weeks)” and “concluded that his conduct merited a lower end entry point, and with an appropriate reduction for mitigation, imposed a sanction of two weeks.”
