France captain Dupont has facial fracture but not out of World Cup - French federation

France captain Antoine Dupont sustained a facial fracture in the record victory over Namibia, but has not yet been ruled out of the World Cup, the French federation announced on Friday.

"Specialised surgical advice was requested to assess how long he will be unavailable for," added the federation.

France, who ran in 14 tries in a record 96-0 victory over Namibia on Thursday, are scheduled to play their final Pool A match against Italy in Lyon on 6 October.

Media reports said Dupont would be sidelined for a month, meaning the influential scrumhalf would miss not only the host nation's game against Italy, but also the World Cup quarter-finals on the weekend of 14-15 October.

Dupont was forced off the field at Marseille's Stade Velodrome in the 46th minute following a clash of heads with Namibia skipper Johan Deysel in a clumsy tackle.

Deysel was initially handed a yellow card, later rightly upgraded to red, although Namibia coach Allister Coetzee described it as an "unfortunate accident".

Dupont, 26, who is yet to lose in a France team he has skippered on home soil in 14 Tests, was immediately taken to hospital for scans on his injury.

France kicked off their World Cup with a morale-boosting 27-13 tournament-opening win over New Zealand before a largely second-string side laboured past Uruguay 27-12.

Victory, but no party

Prop Cyril Baille said Dupont's injury had completely overshadowed a dominant French performance over a Namibian team ranked 22nd in the world and yet to win a World Cup match after 25 matches in seven tournament appearances.

"We know how important he is in the squad, what he brings," said Baille. "When you look at the images, it's a pretty violent impact. It tarnished the evening somewhat, there's a lot of