France captain Antoine Dupont has been ruled out of the Six Nations match against Scotland.
The World Player of the Year, for men's sevens, suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligaments in his knee during the 42-27 win over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium.
Dupont had to be withdrawn after just 28 minutes after Tadhg Berne landed on the scrum-half's leg as the French captain attempted to snatch the ball.
Le coeur est encore plus douloureux que le genou au moment de devoir abandonner les copains avant la dernière marche. Je suis fier de ce que nous avons accompli hier et de toutes mes forces avec vous, vous allez le faire. Rupture des ligaments croisés. C’est le début d’un nouveau… pic.twitter.com/shQK4PSLsk
— 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝗨𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗧 (@Dupont9A) March 9, 2025
On X, Dupont confirmed he will be out of action for a number of months: "The heart hurts even more than the knee when you have to leave your friends before the last step.
"I am proud of what we accomplished yesterday and with all my strength with you, you will do it.
"Rupture of the cruciate ligaments. This is the beginning of a new challenge, I'll see you in a few months on the field."
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France head coach Fabien Galthie has demanded explanations over the injury to Dupont as he admitted there is "anger" over the incident.
"We named the players [who made contact with Dupont], Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter, who should appear before the disciplinary commission," said Galthie.
"We want explanations, so we've named two players. We have to protect our players. There are means, there are rules. There is some kind of anger."
