After the tense match between La Rochelle and Toulouse this Saturday evening, Antoine Dupont posted a message to congratulate his young teammates, authors of a great match at Marcel-Deflandre. He took the opportunity to get annoyed about “protecting the physical integrity of players”.
There are players whose voice carries much more than others. This is the case of Antoine Dupont, an ultra-popular and well-publicized athlete, whose speeches are scrutinized. This Saturday evening, the Toulouse scrum half was not on the Marcel-Deflandre pitch with his teammates, since Ugo Mola decided to protect his executives as much as possible before a trip as perilous as it was important to South Africa in Champions Cup. But Dupont still took a good look the impressive performance of his (very) young teammates in La Rochelle. The latter held their own against the giants of La Rochelle, before being crucified after the siren by a penalty from Antoine Hastoy.
Latu’s gesture in question?
Proud of the point brought home by his team, Dupont congratulated them on Instagram : “Proud of the talent and courage of young people”. In the same message, he also made a rant regarding arbitration: “On the other hand, the protection of the physical integrity of the players…”. Difficult to comment on what exactly Dupont is criticizing, but it seems that the scrum-half is alluding to two contentious actions during La Rochelle – Toulouse. The first is a tackle deemed legal by Reda Wardi on Valentin Delpy at the start of the match. The second is a dangerous clearing of Latu on Daroquewho came out directly injured, hit in the shoulder. Sanctioned with a yellow card, Latu seemed to be doing well while the young scrum half's knee, in a vulnerable position, also suffered a twist.
