Pau-Stade Toulousain: “I want it to be Antoine Dupont, but…” When the match referee had to make an important decision

A week after coming into play against Clermont, Antoine Dupont returns to a starting place this Saturday at the Stade Toulousain scrum during the trip to the Section Paloise (9:05 p.m.). Olympic rugby sevens champion this summer in Paris, the Haut-Pyrénées will cross paths with Jérémy Rozier, the only French referee present at the Olympics and already present a year ago when Dupont made his big return to the Top 14 pitches after the World Cup.

Also read:
Pau-Stade Toulousain: first start for Dupont, Mallia at the opening… Discover the composition of the “rouge et noir”

Entering at the start of the second period against USAP on November 11, almost a month after the defeat in the quarter-final of the World Cup against South Africa, Antoine Dupont caused a real scare to the supporters of Stade Toulousain and more generally of the XV of France. After a commotion from Alivereti Duguivalu, the captain of the French XV at the 2023 World Cup collapsed to the ground, hit in the face (from 4:28 on this video). A few weeks earlier, the scrum-half had suffered a maxillo-zygomatic fracture against Namibia.

Also read:
Stade Toulousain: “Yes, I made a decision”… “The dog” Jack Willis confides about his future, and now seems set

After a call for video refereeing from Jérémy Rozier, the Fijian finally received a yellow card for hitting Antoine Dupont’s lower face and throat. “I really want it to be Antoine Dupont, but there is nothing…” Mathieu Acebes, the Perpignan captain and referee of the match, then said. Cited after his action, Alivereti Duguivalu was then suspended for 3 weeks. The USAP player was found guilty of “dangerous play” and more particularly of having “hit or charge an opponent with the elbow or forearm”.