France head coach Fabien Galthie fears captain Antoine Dupont has sustained a “serious” knee injury against Ireland in the Six Nations.
Dupont, 28, was forced off in the first half of France’s dominant 42-27 win over holders Ireland.
Ireland second row Tadhg Beirne fell on Dupont’s leg at a ruck and he was helped off the pitch in Dublin after receiving treatment.
Speaking at half-time, Galthie said he did not “have good news”, and added in his post-match media conference that the Toulouse scrum-half was “suffering”.
“We’re suspecting something serious,” Galthie said.
Galthie, who said he was “not going to pass judgement” on the performance of referee Angus Gardner, said there was “anger” in the French camp over the incident, which was not referred to the TMO during the match.
Both Dupont and Gregory Alldritt, who took over as French captain, were heard questioning Gardner over a possible review of the incident.
Dupont was attempting to steal the ball in the 28th minute and was challenged by Beirne, who then fell on to the scrum-half’s right leg as Irish prop Andrew Porter joined the ruck.
“We named the players [who made contact with Dupont], Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter, who should appear before the disciplinary commission,” Galthie added.
“We want explanations, so we’ve named two players. We have to protect our players. There are means, there are rules. There is some kind of anger.”
Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby said the injury to Dupont, who was replaced by Maxime Lucu, came after a “rugby incident”.
“Tadhg [Beirne] cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit on the back of it. It happens, unfortunately,” said Easterby.
“We have moved away and players have a real awareness now of clearing out on the lower limb of the player, which can create that type of injury that might have happened today, but that wasn’t the case.
“He was securing his own ball and not making contact on Dupont. Unfortunately that happens. The guy that Tadhg hit was hit on to Dupont. It’s just one of those things unfortunately. It happens in the game.”
Championship leaders France play Scotland in Paris next weekend in what is the concluding game of the tournament, while Ireland will look to bounce back against Italy in Rome.
