France captain Dupont cleared to resume full contact training at Rugby World Cup

PARIS — France captain Antoine Dupont was a step closer to playing again at the Rugby World Cup after being cleared to resume full training on Monday.

The surgeon who repaired Dupont's broken right cheekbone gave him a green light after a final checkup on Monday.

Dupont was due to begin full-contact training in the afternoon.

It was up to the coaches now whether the star scrumhalf was fit to lead France or come off the bench against defending champion South Africa in the quarterfinals on Sunday at Stade de France.

“The key factor is apprehension,” team medical director Bruno Boussagol said on Monday. "We need to remain close to Antoine and help him across the board for him to be in the best position to apply for selection.”

Dupont was injured by a head-on-head tackle on Sept. 21 against Namibia. He had surgery the next day and rejoined the team 10 days later. He has trained solo under medical supervision, and done contact work with tackle pads with fitness staff.

His absence from France's final pool game against Italy last Friday wasn't a problem, as Les Tricolores won 60-7. But the Springboks are a hurdle as big as they come.

Dupont is considering wearing a protective scrum cap.

“We're working on it,” Boussagol said. “He has received and has tested this kind of protection equipment. There are two key points: His vision and his hearing can't be affected. There's a lot of noise in the stadium and Antoine communicates a lot. These two parameters need to be evaluated and tested during training."

First-choice hooker Julien Marchand's race to be fit has failed. He hurt his hamstring in the opening win against New Zealand a month ago.

“He needs to pass quite a lot of tests by the end of the week,” Boussagol said. “He's still with us because he has a genuine chance to be back on the pitch. We hope this is going to happen later next week.”