“It was nothing short of a disgrace!”

France could once again be in trouble after they clearly abused the HIA rule again yesterday in their Six Nations defeat to Ireland at the Stade de France.

Several TV replays showed France substitute scrumhalf Antoine Dupont clearly suffer a knee injury, but a French official informed referee Nigel Owens that the official match doctor said the scrum-half was off for a Head Injury Assessment, meaning Maxime Machenaud could return to the field.

Referee Nigel Owens was clearly dubious and made sure to check the information several times But Machenaud was allowed to continue despite protestations from a number of Irish players, including captain at the time Johnny Sexton.

Former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll was among many who took to Twitter last night to vent their frustration.