Fabien Galthié offered to lend Antoine Dupont his glasses after the France scrum-half kicked the ball out of play a minute early in Sunday’s 24-17 win over England.
With France camped on their own line, Dupont dug the ball out of the ruck and kicked it dead in-goal, thinking that time was up on the clock.
Unfortunately for him, the match clock had just ticked past 79 minutes rather than 80, and he gave England a five-metre scrum.
That proved crucial as England secured a losing bonus point from their defeat, and while there was a little frustration for Dupont, he took it in good humour.
He said: “I thought it was the 79th minute and the match was over.
“When I put my head in the ruck I thought we were at 79.58 or 79.59. I was certain that it would go past 80 minutes. Tough luck, there was still a minute to play! It worked out in the end, even if they got a losing bonus point. We can laugh about it, although it could have been more costly.
“I’ll put in contact lenses for the next match!â€
His coach Galthié took a similar view on the incident, even joking that he had offered Dupont his rather unique glasses.
Galthié said: “There was a little problem with his vision and clock management. I offered him my glasses this morning. It’s all part of the game, we are allowed to make mistakes. Maybe it was an issue with the lighting.â€
Team manager Raphaël Ibanez jokingly added Dupont had tried the glasses in front of the rest of the squad and the effect was even worse.
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Source: 6 Nations