France 'extremely concerned' over Dupont facial injury

France are sweating on the condition of captain Antoine Dupont after the mercurial scrumhalf suffered a suspected jaw fracture during the hosts' record 96-0 victory against Namibia at the Rugby World Cup.

Dupont returned to skipper the side as one of 12 changes by head coach Fabien Galthie on the back of a laboured win over Uruguay, which had followed on from an impressive performance to defeat three-time world champions New Zealand in the tournament's opening match.

The scrum-half, though, was forced off early in the second half following a clash of heads with Johan Deysel, which saw the Namibia captain shown a yellow card and sent to the sin-bin before it was upgraded to a red following a bunker review by the TMO.

"There is a suspicion of a crack or fracture of the maxillary bone," head coach Fabien Galthie said.

"He currently is in hospital, he's being tested, I can't tell you more than that. I'm staying connected and will tell you more if I hear (from him).

"We are never happy when a player gets injured. We are extremely concerned. It's not the same as if we'd had no injuries."

Namibia have a try chalked off and a yellow card for Johan Deysel - since upgraded to red - after a head-high hit on Antoine Dupont

The French scrum half has been replaced