Brito started Ivory Coast's third match against Tonga on 3 June. He caught a high ball that had been kicked up the field, and set off on a counter-attack. He was tackled by Inoke Afeaki, the Tonga flanker, before a ruck formed over him. The ruck collapsed and several players fell on top of Brito, leaving him prone and motionless on the ground. Brito was taken to the intensive care unit of the Unitas Hospital in Pretoria with broken vertebrae. Operations were carried out to stabilize the fourth and fifth vertebrae, but Brito was left paralysed below the neck.