An accident.

France could yet still be in trouble over alleged abuse the HIA rule in their Six Nations defeat to Ireland at the Stade de France on Saturday. But Will Greenwood believes they have done nothing wrong.

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

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.

An investigation of the incident by Six Nations officials is ongoing. But Greenwood has an interesting take on the whole ordeal. He believes it was a genuine accident, and that the whole thing came about as a result of a bit of confusio.

“He’s gone down. There’s a lad on the floor, not moving, by a ruck.”

“The doctor’s going to say in the ear, we need to check that with HIA. Once you’ve done that, you’re not then going to say, ‘actually he’s done his knee’. You need to check for HIA”

“If this was French Skullduggery, Machenaud would have kicked the goal that would have won France the game 16-12. End of. Stop bleeding on about French cheating! They didn’t. It was an accident.”

What do you think? Does Greenwood have a point or do you think France were up to something, especially considering their track-record?

Sound off in the comments.