Tadhg Beirne has spoken publicly on the incident that left Antoine Dupont with a ruptured cruciate ligament in last month's Six Nations clash between Ireland and France.
Dupont was withdrawn in the first half of the meeting in Dublin and, hours after the game, France confirmed he would miss at least six months of rugby, such was the extent of the injury.
The hours after that game also saw several allegations thrown the way of two Irish players by the French contingent in Dublin.
Head coach Fabien Galthié confirmed that the FFR would cite Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter for their role in the injury. The inference was that Beirne's collapse onto Dupont's leg (supposedly aided by a push from Porter) was an intentional, malicious act.
Condemnations followed from French fly-half Romain Ntamack and from Australia legend David Campese, but the Ireland pair were ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing, as expected.
At a media event on Tuesday, Tadhg Beirne responded publicly for the first time. The Munster lock made an eye-opening admission on how tough the weeks after the incident had been.
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Tadhg Beirne speaks out on contentious Antoine Dupont incident
8 March 2025; Antoine Dupont of France is assisted from the pitch after sustaining an injury during the Guinness Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and France at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of the Champions Cup last 16, Tadhg Beirne was sporting a rather nasty shiner. He refused to name any names but did confirm it had come from a ruck during Saturday's win over Connacht in Castlebar.
Following the theme of injuries, Beirne was asked about the incident that had left Antoine Dupont sidelined during last month's Six Nations.
The Munster lock empathised completely with his French counterpart and refuted any suggestion that the incident had been intentional.
Yeah, I reached out to him. I messaged him on instagram. I tried looking for him after the game, as well, but didn't get to him. He must have been with the medical teams, and that. He has a million followers on Instagram, I'm pretty sure, so he's not going to see a message from me. It was all I could do, at the time. I sent my regards through Gregory Alldritt, as well.
It's an incident and when you slow it down, it can look bad. But it's an incident that wasn't intentional. I never intended to injure him. The last thing I want to do is injure the best player in the world. You don't go out there to hurt anyone. It was just unfortunate, the way it happened. I'm sorry for the fact that it happened to him. You don't like to see it happen to any player.
Tellingly, Beirne suggested that he had received a similar amount of online abuse as was received by Andrew Porter and his family.
The backlash that myself, Andrew Porter and our families got, afterwards, was probably enough punishment, on its own, to be honest with you.
It's hard to believe that the incident that left Antoine Dupont injured was a malicious one on the part of Tadhg Beirne or Andrew Porter.
For the pair and their families to have received such backlash is truly disappointing.
Beirne and Munster will face Ronan O'Gara's La Rochelle in the last 16 of the Champions Cup on Saturday, with kick-off at 5:30pm Irish time.
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