France's scrumhalf Antoine Dupont is helped from the field after picking up an injury during their Six Nations rugby match against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday.
Image: AFP
Comment
It is farcical how Ireland’s Tadgh Beirne escaped any punishment after landing on Antoine Dupont’s knee during their Six Nations clash this weekend, injuring the France superstar.
He came off scot-free after recklessly charging into a breakdown Dupont was contesting, landing on the knee of the scrumhalf. It was so severe that Dupont was withdrawn after 30 minutes of play, and his season seems to be over.
It potentially means the Springboks will not be able to play against the Frenchman - whom plenty in the Northern Hemisphere regard as the best player in the world - in their Test in November later this year.
With players like Pieter-Steph du Toit, current World Rugby Player of the Year, and the nominated Cheslin Kolbe and Eben Etzebeth who all gunned for the title Du Toit won, there will likely now be no contest against the Frenchman to settle that debate once and for all.
Of course, Dupont must still play a Test in the Southern Hemisphere against the Boks or All Blacks for those in the South to seriously take the claim as the best (the greatest of all time in modern talks).
But a rematch against the world-conquering South Africans in November would’ve stirred that conversation again, but thanks to Beirne and the Irish, it is now unlikely to happen.
There has been a specific focus on player safety in rugby and those targeting the lower limbs of jacklers at the breakdown. While many are on the side of Beirne, saying that he is not a malicious player, the Irish dark arts at the breakdown are especially well-known in rugby.
Who can forget the fractures both Malcolm Marx and Franco Mostert suffered last year at breakdowns?
Mostert and Marx were cleaned out dangerously by Irish players, with both missing the Boks’ title-winning Rugby Championship campaign. Marx was taken out with a croc roll, a breakdown-cleaning technique that rugby bosses outlawed a while ago.
But that is not where the dangerous play of the Irish stops.
The retiring Peter O’Mahony had a couple of moments where he dove like a missile into French kickers “attempting” a charge down. There is a reason attempting is in inverted commas: there is absolutely no way you can charge a ball down while diving into an attacker with your back turned towards the ball.
He escaped that without any punishment.
And that is the problem in rugby, and when it comes to the Irish and punishment, they don’t get what they deserve when there are offences. France luckily knew how to outplay them even without Dupont on the field, and that massive score was a deserved win over a team that seems to get the calls going their way.
The Irish have also dropped to third on the World Rugby rankings, which will settle the debate about them being the “best team” in the world.
They are not that good, and the Springboks will be licking their lips to settle the score in Dublin later this year after drawing the 2024 series.
But the world champions will be miffed about it if there is no Dupont on the French side who they take on in the Stade de France, the same stadium where the Boks won the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final over the host nation.