France were dealt a significant blow half-an-hour into their potential Six Nations title decider against Ireland with captain Antoine Dupont forced off with an injury.
Dupont, widely regarded as the world’s best player, appeared to suffer a knee injury after a cleanout from Ireland lock Tadhg Beirne at a ruck.
The officials were content there was no foul play from Beirne and Andrew Porter, also involved, but the scrum half was unable to bear weight on his leg and had to be aided off the pitch by a pair of French medics.
France head coach Fabien Galthie fumed about the lack of a punishment for the Irish pair.
"We're suspecting something serious. He's suffering," Galthie confirmed of Dupont’s injury.
"We named the player, Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Portert, who should appear before the disciplinary commission.
"We want explanations, so we've named two players. We have to protect our players. There are means, there are rules... There is some kind of anger.
It forced Galthie to bring on replacement nine Maxime Lucu, the lone back on the bench with seven forwards selected in a bold call.
The Toulouse superstar had been serving as cover at fly half and, potentially, in the centres, leaving Galthie short of options when injury struck again, though back rows Oscar Jegou filled in admirably in the centres after Pierre-Louis Barassi’s departure.
Dupont, an Olympic gold medallist in rugby sevens at Paris 2024 last summer, had shown his talent in a frantic first half-hour that saw France show their defensive strength.
The scrum half came up with a number of crucial plays in his own 22 before creating the opening score, lifting a lovely pass out to Louis Bielle-Biarrey on the left to allow the wing to scamper home.
It proved a precursor to one of France’s best ever Six Nations performances, with Ireland dismantled in a 42-27 result made close only by a couple of late tries.
Interim Ireland boss Simon Easterby disagreed with the assessment of Galthie, his counterpart.
“I think it's just a rugby incident,” Easterby said. “Tadhg cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit off the back of it. 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."
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