'Angry' French head coach to cite three Irish players after Six Nations showdown

Fabien Galthie said France will cite Tadhg Beirne, Andrew Porter and Calvin Nash following their Six Nations clash with Ireland in Dublin. 

Fabien Galthie said "there is a suspicion of a serious injury" for Antoine Dupont. The scrum-half was helped from the pitch during the first half. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire.

An “angry” France head coach Fabien Galthie has declared that he will be citing Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter for the incident that led to Antoine Dupont leaving the field early against Ireland during the first-half of their Six Nations clash in Dublin.

And the winning Les Bleus boss has also stated that he will cite Calvin Nash for the high tackle on Pierre-Louis Barassi that earned the Munster winger a yellow card and ended the French player’s involvement on the day.

“Firstly on Antoine, there is a suspicion of a serious injury,” he said. “I will not reveal the details because of medical protocols. But Antoine is suffering. We will cite both Beirne and Porter.

“We will cite as well the player involved with Pierre-Louis Barassi, Nash. You have to know that Pierre-Louis Barassi has not responded well to the HIA protocol.

“There also there are TV images. We have cited them. Our players do not come in at the side, they move backwards. We want to know why.

“About this I am angry."

He continued: "Today one wants to protect one's players. There are measures put in place, there are rules. 

"Therefore we want the disciplinary commission to study these moments and say whether they are objectionable or not, we want to understand."

Dupont suffered his injury when competing for the ball at a ruck and it appeared as if Beirne fell onto his right leg rather than anything malicious or badly-executed. Porter was the other Ireland player in the vicinity when it happened.

Dupont let loose a scream that could be heard around the stadium and was subsequently helped off the field eleven minutes before the break but his replacement Maxime Lucu had a superb game in his absence at scrum-half.

The Barassi incident was a simple case of Nash failing to get low enough in the tackle and with the result that he clashed heads with the ball carrier. Again, there was clearly no malice in the act and he served his ten minutes in the bin.

France scored 15 points during the combined 20 minutes that Ireland had players in the bind and won by the same margin on a 42-27 scoreline to leave them top of the table and needing only a win against Scotland at home next week to claim the title.