Fabien Galthie furious over Antoine Dupont injury as France demolish Ireland
Les Bleus captain Dupont is suspected to have suffered serious knee damage after being hurt during a ruck clearout.
France head coach Fabien Galthie branded the incident which injured Antoine Dupont “reprehensible” following a 42-27 demolition of Guinness Six Nations title rivals Ireland in Dublin.
Les Bleus captain Dupont – widely-regarded as the world’s best player – is suspected to have suffered serious knee damage after being hurt during a ruck clearout involving Ireland pair Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter.
Galthie said France had cited both Beirne and Porter in their post-match report.
The visitors emphatically overcame the major first-half setback to blow open the championship title race by extinguishing Ireland’s Grand Slam dream with a devastating five-try victory.
“There is a suspicion of a quite serious knee injury to Antoine,” said Galthie. “He is suffering – let’s say it how it is.
“I don’t want to go into details, mainly due to medical confidentiality. We have cited two players – Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter – in our post-match report.”
Speaking to France 2 TV, he added: “In terms of the action, in my opinion it was reprehensible, and there are ways to study and analyse it.
“We feel for him today. He is suffering and we are suffering with him.”
Dupont was visibly upset when he limped from the field in the 29th minute after Beirne, who appeared to be pushed by team-mate Porter, fell on his right leg, causing it to buckle.
Having come on as scrum-half replacement, Maxime Lucu said France’s skipper was in tears in the changing room.
Galthie was also angered by the second-half challenge which prematurely ended the participation of Pierre-Louis Barassi.
Ireland wing Calvin Nash – a late replacement in the hosts’ starting XV due to James Lowe’s back spasm – was yellow carded following head-on-head contact with the France centre.
“We have also highlighted Nash to the citing commissioner for Pierre-Louis Barassi, who did not respond well to the HIA (head injury assessment) protocol,” said Galthie.
“We are angry and we want an explanation. We must protect our players. There are rules, regulations. I do not want to pass judgment on the quality of refereeing today.”
Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s early try – on the back of Ireland lock Joe McCarthy being sin-binned for a cynical, off-the-ball tug on Thomas Ramos – helped France into an 8-6 half-time lead before Dan Sheehan’s score shifted the momentum in the home team’s favour just after the restart.
But the stunned hosts were blitzed during a breathtaking second period
Bielle-Biarrey, the tournament’s top try-scorer, took his tally to seven with a sensational finish before Paul Boudehent, Oscar Jegou and the diving Damian Penaud completed the job, adding to 17 points from full-back Ramos.
Late scores for Cian Healy and Jack Conan, plus two penalties and three conversions from Sam Prendergast, was scant consolation for Simon Easterby’s side, who slipped two points behind their opponents after a shambolic second-half display.
Speaking of the Dupont injury, Ireland interim boss Easterby said: “I think it’s just a rugby incident where Tadhg cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit on the back of that.
“Players have a real awareness now of cleaning out on the lower limb of a player, which can create the type of injury that might have happened today. But that wasn’t the case.
“He was securing his own ball and not making contact on Dupont and unfortunately that happens.”
Ireland travel to Italy next weekend hoping France slip up at home to Scotland.
“The game was disappointing, obviously,” said Easterby. “We probably didn’t take enough of our opportunities in their 22, and vice-versa, we conceded too easily ourselves.”
