France captain Antoine Dupont has been given the green light to return to training ahead of Les Bleus' Rugby World Cup quarter-final with South Africa.
The 26-year-old sustained a nasty facial injury in his side's 96-0 obliteration of Namibia in Pool A on September 21, having been the victim of a red-card tackle from Johan Deysel.
Scans revealed that Dupont had suffered a fractured cheekbone, and there were fears that the Toulouse man may have been forced to miss the remainder of the home World Cup.
However, Dupont was quickly cleared to rejoin the France squad following an operation, and a statement from the country's rugby federation on Monday confirmed that the 2021 World Player of the Year is now fit enough to resume practice with his teammates.
"Following his medical visit planned today with the surgeon who previously operated on him, @Dupont9A obtained authorization to resume rugby training today," the French Rugby Federation said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Whether Dupont is deemed ready to return to the starting lineup for Sunday's quarter-final with South Africa remains to be seen, as the hosts vie to meet either England or Fiji in the semi-finals.
Without Dupont, Maxime Lucu started at scrum-half for France in their final Pool A match against Italy on Friday, where Fabien Galthie's side ran out 60-7 winners to seal a first-placed finish with four victories from four matches.
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