France’s star scrumhalf Antoine Dupont has revealed that he felt so much injustice during the World Cup quarter-final against South Africa that he had to rewatch the game the day afterward.
In 2019, France lost to Wales in the quarterfinals by the exact same score (20-19), but the atmosphere was significantly different this time.
Dupont and the other French players showed signs of irritation during the game as they attempted to emulate O’Keeffe’s approach.
Dupont stated that he “needed” to replay the game in an interview with Thierry Henry, the great football player, on Brothers. Stories.
“With a quarter of an hour remaining, we were leading by 12 or 13 points and we were eliminated by one point, the same thing happened in 2019,” he said to Henry. “But I never watched the match again.”
“That one, I needed it. I couldn’t sleep, so I watched the match the next day.
“Because you always have an impression on the pitch, and sometimes, rewatching the match it’s different.
“It was to see if this feeling of injustice was real or not.”
Following the defeat, the scrumhalf expressed his unreserved criticism of the refereeing in his post-match remarks, stating that he didn’t believe the official was “up to the challenge.”
O’Keeffe dismissed the criticism when it was made, citing the emotional toll as the reason.
“It’s evidently a highly sentimental moment,” O’Keeffe said to NewsHub at the time. “I just try to give them space and respect that.”
A World Rugby analysis of the match revealed five significant mistakes made by O’Keeffe in his decision-making, the majority of which favored South Africa and were crucial to scoring points throughout the match.
France benefitted from two major infringements that weren’t picked up and allowed to play on.
Dupont said he will regret the “nightmare,” even if he probably will get another chance to raise the William Webb Ellis trophy.
“Maybe I can win the World Cup, but we are sorry about the match,” he said to Henry.
“You mentally rewatch the film, and the worse things become, the worse things get in the end.
You just want to go to sleep and then wake up, praying that this was all a bad dream. Regretfully, you have to accept it and move forward.
