Appeal.

France put on hand on this year’s Six Nations championship trophy with victory over Ireland on Saturday but they are not happy with an incident that took place in the game and are set to launch an appeal.

French captain Antoine Dupont was forced off in the first half after suffering a nasty ACL injury that is set to keep him sidelined for several months and they are not happy with the incident that caused the injury.

The incident occurred after Tadhg Beirne fell on his leg at the breakdown but the Irish lock was not punished on the day for his actions, with Gardner deeming it to be a ‘rugby incident’ on the day.

The Australian referee did not proceed with an official review of what caused the injury, despite the fact that World Rugby are looking to clamp down on players targeting opponents’ lower limbs at the contact area.

“I genuinely hear your concerns and you’ve got to trust us that we’ve reviewed it,” Gardner told new captain Gregory Alldritt following the incident.

“Mate, sometimes in rugby, unfortunate as it is, people get injured, so I completely understand.”

After the game, France filed an official complaint against Beirne and teammate Andrew Porter for their part in what led to Dupont’s injury but both players have since been cleared.

And now France are set to appeal that verdict with French rugby president Florian Grill describing Gardner’s actions as “disturbing.”

“Anger must not take over and we will respect the final decisions,” Grill told L’Equipe.

“But we are determined to activate all possible appeals to make our voices heard.

“What shocked us, or bothered us, is that the referee did not go and study the images of Antoine’s injury himself. We find that disturbing. Eventually, we will be heard.”