Antoine Dupont’s injury in Dublin prompted a nasty reaction from the French camp
France captain Antoine Dupont ruptured his ACL during the Six Nations round four game against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Imageswhich we take for granted but which is always worth celebrating is the manner supporters travel in such vast numbers to away games, mixing and mingling with hospitable hosts with no need for any separation much less segregation.
Rome is to Irish fans what Dublin evidently is to French fans. In France they singalong to the enormously popular folk song Connemara and they know the words of Ireland’s Call better than we do. They travel to Ireland for the Six Nations in greater numbers than any other away weekend and tend to extend their time here, maybe even taking in other parts of the country.
That Gallic-Irish bond between supporters ought not be affected by the fallout from last weekend’s clash, specifically the ACL injury sustained by France’s captain Antoine Dupont. For sure, that Ringrose’s two-game ban included a URC game while Ntamack’s did not include a Top 14 game typified some of the inconsistencies in World Rugby’s process. But Ntamack’s shoulder-to-head on Ben Thomas, within two minutes of the Wales player’s legitimate shot on him, looked much worse than Ringrose’s head-on-head clash with the same player.
Easterby appeared to be seething over the fallout, and within the Irish camp it seems utterly reprehensible of France to suggest that any player would deliberately seek to injure an opponent.
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