‘I knew what I did’ – Andrew Porter’s blunt reaction to his involvement in Antoine Dupont injury
Ireland front-row Andrew Porter and France captain and scrum-half Antoine Dupont.
Ireland loosehead prop Andrew Porter has denied allegations that he intentionally hurt France captain Antoine Dupont in their Six Nations clash at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
France cruised to a 42-27 victory but they lost star scrum-half Dupont after 29 minutes due to ruptured cruciate ligaments in his right knee.
Porter and Ireland second-row Tadhg Beirne escaped sanctions for their actions at the breakdown which led to Dupont’s injury and that has left the France camp furious.
France’s skipper looked upset while limping off the pitch on Saturday after Beirne, who appeared to be pushed by Porter, fell on his leg.
Dupont‘s injury means he will be sidelined for six to eight months and Les Bleus head coach Fabien Galthie described the clear out from the Irish duo as “reprehensible”.
Galthie revealed that France had cited both Beirne and Porter in their post-match report but the duo were cleared of any wrongdoing and are available for selection for Ireland’s last Six Nations Test against Italy in Rome on Saturday.
Porter responded to Galthie’s allegations by saying there was “no malicious intent” from his side.
“He can say what he wants, see how far it gets him,” said the Leinster star.
Jarring footage emerges of Antoine Dupont injury as furious France boss promises citings
‘I wasn’t disappointed’
Regarding France’s decision to cite him, Porter said: “No, I wasn’t disappointed. I knew what I did; I didn’t go out to try and injure anyone. That’s not the type of player I am. If he [Galthie] wants to think that, that’s up to him.
“I even sent Antoine a message on Instagram just to see how he was, and obviously you never want to see anyone going off the pitch like that.
“If you have the head coach calling for your head, it’s a bit much.
“But he’s such a pivotal player for them that they nearly don’t want him to be touched at all. Look, he’s entitled to his opinion but I know I haven’t done anything wrong there. I sleep well at night.”
Porter went on to explain how Dupont got injured and described the incident as an “unfortunate” one.
“His leg got trapped in between a ruck when he was trying to counter it and he obviously just got trapped and went over, ” he explained.
‘It’s obviously unfortunate and unlucky’
“It happens so much in this sport. There was no malicious intent surrounding it at all. It’s obviously unfortunate and unlucky.”
Ireland’s defeat was a huge setback for interim head coach Simon Easterby and his troops as it ended their winning streak in this year’s Six Nations and their chances of becoming the first side to win three successive titles is now very unlikely.
The men from the Emerald Isle are currently in third position on the Championship table behind France and England, who sealed a 47-24 win over the Azzurri in their Round Four encounter at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.
“It’s obviously not easy moving on from a game like that,” Porter said of their loss to France.
“You can’t dwell on the past too much. But you’d be lying to yourself if you said you weren’t still thinking of that game.
“It was just a few small mistakes on the day really. We’re not going to let something like that shake us.
“We know exactly who we are as players and as a team. We know exactly what we can do, it just didn’t click for us on Saturday.
“If anything, it’s emboldened us to go out and produce the rugby we can play.
“We’re not out of the competition completely yet. It’s everything to play for. We get to go out and play this weekend and right a few wrongs.”
READ MORE: ‘We can’t be having that’ – Ireland coach hits out at ‘stupid’ Joe McCarthy yellow
