BERNARD JACKMAN HAS described the tackle which forced France scrum-half Antoine Dupont to withdraw from their victory over Namibia as “horrendous” and believes it should have resulted in a straight red card.
Dupont left the pitch in the 46th minute of his side’s emphatic World Cup win after suffering a badly-timed head-on-head tackle from the Namibia captain Johan Deysel. The influential 26-year-old may have suffered a broken jaw from the challenge as the French camp await scans to confirm the extent of the damage.
Referee Matthew Carley initially gave Deysel a yellow card, which was then upgraded to red by the bunker review system. However, Jackman believes Deysel should have been sent off straight away.
“Just on the referee,” he began while speaking on RTÉ’s coverage of the game. “I think that’s a horrendous tackle. I think that’s a red straight away. I know it’s safer to go to the bunker but sometimes you’ve got to just call it. There was no mitigation, a reckless challenge by the Namibia captain.
“Potentially the best player in the world is in doubt now because of a reckless challenge.”
On the nature of Dupont’s injury and what is the most desirable outcome for France, Jackman said:
“It’s better if it’s his jaw because it’s less risk. The eye socket is far more complicated playing with it. Realistically, they’re going to be looking at him for the quarter-final. They can beat Italy without Dupont.”
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