Fabien Galthie: Irish ruck clear-out on Antoine Dupont was reprehensible – we are angry despite Six Nations win | Rugby Union News

France head coach Fabien Galthie has labelled the Irish clear-out on Antoine Dupont which caused a suspected “serious knee injury” as “reprehensible”, calling for Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter to be cited. 

France captain and talisman Dupont limped off in the first half of Saturday’s 42-27 Six Nations victory over Ireland in Dublin, with referee Angus Gardner ruling the cause of the injury as an unfortunate rugby incident, and so not foul play.

On replays, Dupont’s leg appears to be inadvertently trapped in a ruck as Beirne – with Porter in close attendance – enter to remove him as a breakdown threat.

Galthie was extremely strong on the incident post-match, though, and believes both players should be cited and suspended.

“We felt bad for Antoine Dupont. On the act [ruck clear-out], which is in my opinion reprehensible, there are ways to study and look at this act. We felt very bad for him. He is suffering, we are suffering with him,” Galthie told France 2 at full-time.

Galthie added at his post-match press conference: “For Antoine, there is suspicion of a fairly serious knee injury. I won’t go into details due to medical confidentiality, but Antoine is suffering.

“We have recommended players to appear before the Six Nations disciplinary committee: Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter. Calvin Nash has also been recommended for the Pierre-Louis Barassi [high tackle] because he did not respond favorably to the HIA protocol.

“Our players did not return to the pitch. We would like to understand why. On this issue, we are angry.

“We want to protect our players, there are rules. The citing commissioner must study the actions and decide if they are reprehensible or not. Neither Antoine nor Pierre-Louis returned to the pitch. One for a clear-out, the other for a [head] contact.

“When Antoine Dupont has to go off, we bring on Max Lucu, in whom we have total confidence. He was fantastic. He took control of the game and made a very, very high-level return. I’m very happy for Max.”

Lucu: Dupont was in tears in dressing room | Cros: Dupont was really struggling, it gave us motivation

France replacement scrum-half Maxime Lucu, who came on for Dupont, told media…

“We know what Antoine gives to the group. We had to pay tribute to him, we saw him in tears in the dressing room.

“We had to remobilise and give him this victory.”

France back-row forward François Cros told media…

“It’s never easy to see a team-mate go off, especially Antoine. We’ll wait for the medical results, but at half-time, he was really struggling.

“It gave us even more motivation. We also wanted to win for him, to make sure everything he gave on the field wasn’t in vain.

“We’re super proud to give him this big victory today.”

Easterby: Nothing illegal in Beirne’s clear-out of Dupont – one of those things that happens unfortunately

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby told media at his post-match press conference…

“I think it’s just a rugby incident where Tadhg [Beirne] cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit on the back of that. It happens, unfortunately.

“Players have a real awareness now of clearing out on the lower limb of the player, which can create that type of injury, but that wasn’t the case.

“He was securing his own ball and not making contact on Dupont. It’s just one of those things unfortunately. It happens in the game.”

What’s next?

Ireland complete their championship away to Italy at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome next Saturday March 15 (2.15pm kick-off).

France host Scotland in their last game of the championship as they play the final Test of three on Saturday March 15 (8pm kick-off).

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