France captain Antoine Dupont limped off the Aviva Stadium pitch in the Six Nations clash against Ireland after sustaining a nasty-looking injury.

Fabien Galthie gambled with a 7-1 split for the potential Six Nations decider on Saturday and was dealt a major blow in the 28th minute when his star man and skipper Dupont was forced off injured.

Dupont blow

The scrum-half had set up the opening try of the game as he floated a superb long pass out to France winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey in the 20th minute off the back of a powerful driving maul.

Shortly afterwards, however, the 28-year-old’s game came to a swift end after he let out a scream at a breakdown. The brilliant number nine went over to attempt a jackal steal but was cleared out of the ruck by Ireland lock Tadhg Beirne.

Dupont, while receiving treatment, questioned referee Angus Gardner about potential foul play from Beirne, arguing that the Irishman had dropped his weight on his leg.

Law 9.20e reads: “A player must not drop their weight onto an opponent or target the lower limbs. (Sanction: Penalty)”

However, Gardner and his officiating team did not believe that Beirne’s action warranted a sanction with the referee stating that “sometimes it’s just an accident”.

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The incident was not officially reviewed and the TMO seemingly agreed with Gardner as he did not inject with clear and obvious evidence of foul play.

Dupont was subsequently replaced by Maxime Lucu, who was the only replacement back on France’s bench after Galthie’s decision to back the Springboks-inspired bench split of seven forwards and one backline player.

Despite the setback, France would head into the break with a marginal lead with Sam Prendergast getting Ireland on the board with a penalty kick either side of Thomas Ramos’ successful nudge in the 36th minute.

Meanwhile, Ireland were dealt a hammer blow ahead of kick with James Lowe withdrawing from the fixture after sustaining an injury in the warm-up, he was replaced by Calvin Nash in the starting XV.

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Ireland v France teams

Ireland: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Jamie Osborne, 13 Robbie Henshaw, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Caelan Doris (c), 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Tadhg Beirne, 4 Joe McCarthy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Andrew Porter
Replacements: 16 Rob Herring, 17 Cian Healy, 18 Thomas Clarkson, 19 James Ryan, 20 Jack Conan, 21 Ryan Baird, 22 Conor Murray, 23 Jack Crowley

France: 15 Thomas Ramos, 14 Damian Penaud, 13 Pierre-Louis Barassi, 12 Yoram Moefana, 11 Louis Bielle-Biarrey, 10 Romain Ntamack, 9 Antoine Dupont (c), 8 Gregory Alldritt, 7 Paul Boudehent, 6 Francois Cros, 5 Mickaël Guillard, 4 Thibaud Flament, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Peato Mauvaka, 1 Jean-Baptiste Gros
Replacements: 16 Julien Marchand, 17 Cyril Baille, 18 Dorian Aldegheri, 19 Emmanuel Meafou, 20 Hugo Auradou, 21 Oscar Jegou, 22 Anthony Jelonch, 23 Maxime Lucu

READ MORE: ‘Oh Noa’ – France rookie learns ‘humbling life lesson’ in hilarious botched try after premature ‘showboating’ against Ireland

Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/antoine-dupont-suffers-brutal-injury-after-controversial-clear-out-as-frances-le-bomb-squad-put-under-the-cosh