‘Shocked’ France chief takes aim at referee’s ‘disturbing’ actions over Antoine Dupont injury as Ireland trio escape punishment
France star Antoine Dupont carried off the field against Ireland after an ACL rupture and FFR president Florian Grill.
French Rugby Federation (FFR) president Florian Grill believes that winning the Rugby World Cup in 2027 will be determined by earning “more respect” with World Rugby after a controversial weekend.
His words come after Ireland’s Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter escaped possible sanction for their part in Antoine Dupont’s injury.
Dupont ruptured his ACL during France’s 42-27 victory over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium after Beirne fell on his leg at the breakdown.
World Rugby have looked to clamp down on those types of incidents, with players often being sent-off for targeting the lower limbs at the contact area, but this was deemed either an accident or not reaching the red card threshold.
No citing for Ireland trio
That has caused outrage in France with Grill himself shocked that Beirne, Porter and Calvin Nash, who was yellow carded for his head-high hit on Pierre-Louis Barassi, were not cited following Saturday’s clash.
However, the FFR boss insists that they must do more with the respective governing bodies so that they are able to get “balanced decisions” from the officials.
“It inspires me that we still have work to do,” Grill told L’Equipe. “If we want to be world champions in 2027, we must earn more respect at World Rugby and the Six Nations.
“We decided with Fabien and Jean-Marc (Lhermet, vice-president of the FFR) to never give up on anything. We started to invest in the commissions and working groups.
“We bring data, visualisation, rational things to make decisions. We have two and a half years for France to be heard to its fair extent and for the decisions to be balanced.”
During the 2023 Rugby World Cup, which was hosted in France, the French were unhappy with a number of officiating calls in their quarter-final defeat to eventual world champions South Africa.
There was also frustration after claims that Six Nations officials implemented double standards in the recent bans handed out to Romain Ntamack and Garry Ringrose.
And after Beirne, Porter and Nash were not punished for the incidents in Dublin at the weekend, there is a feeling in France that they get unfair treatment in regards to some decisions.
Grill insists that they will explore ways of possibly appealing the verdict, while he also criticised the actions of Angus Gardner.
Gardner’s message to Gregory Alldritt
The referee did not proceed with an official review of the incident which led to Dupont’s injury, telling stand-in captain Gregory Alldritt: “I genuinely hear your concerns and you’ve got to trust us that we’ve reviewed it.
“Mate, sometimes in rugby, unfortunate as it is, people get injured, so I completely understand.”
Meanwhile, Grill said: “Anger must not take over and we will respect the final decisions. But we are determined to activate all possible appeals to make our voices heard.
“What shocked us, or bothered us, is that the referee did not go and study the images of Antoine’s injury himself. We find that disturbing.
“Eventually, we will be heard. I repeat: this is the condition for being world champion in 2027.”
READ MORE: Jarring footage emerges of Antoine Dupont injury as furious France boss promises citings
