'Angry' Fabien Galthie demands explanation over 'serious' Antoine Dupont injury, cites three Ireland players
Published 08/03/2025 at 20:39 GMT
Fabien Galthie is demanding an explanation surrounding the injury to Antoine Dupont and the discipline issues of three Irish players following their 42-27 win over Ireland in the Six Nations. France can reclaim the title in a clash with Scotland next week, but may be without their talisman Dupont. Galthie has highlighted three Irish names to the citing commissioner, including Tadhg Beirne.
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Fabien Galthie fears that Antoine Dupont may have picked up a "serious" injury in France's Six Nations win in Dublin.
The France boss is also demanding an explanation regarding two Irish players involved in Dupont's injury in the 28th minute.
Dupont was forced off in the first half of the 42-27 win after attempting to steal the ball. Tadgh Beirne fell on the Frenchman's leg at the ruck and Dupont was helped off the Aviva pitch.
"There is a suspicion of a quite serious knee injury to Antoine," Galthie said in his post-match press conference.
Galthie added that he plans to cite Beirne and Andrew Porter regarding Dupont's injury, and said he has highlighted Calvin Nash for a tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi.
"He [Dupont] is suffering, let's say it how it is," Galthie said. "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.
"We have highlighted Nash to the citing commissioner for [the incident with] Pierre-Louis Barassi, who did not respond well to the HIA protocol. We had players who never came back on.
"We are angry and we want an explanation; so, we have cited two players. We must protect our players. There are rules, regulations ... there's a sort of anger.
"I do not want to pass judgement on the quality of refereeing today."
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Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby called the injury a "rugby incident."
"Tadhg cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit on the back of it. It happens, unfortunately," said Easterby.
"We have moved away and players have a real awareness now of clearing out on the lower limb of the player, which can create that 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. Unfortunately, that happens. The guy that Tadhg hit was hit on to Dupont. It's just one of those things, unfortunately. It happens in the game."
France turned the tournament back in their favour with a dominant win over Ireland, and play Scotland in Paris next weekend to conclude their Six Nations campaign.
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