'We are angry': World's best rugby player taken out at ruck, set for long stint on sidelines

France's hand replaced Ireland's on the Six Nations rugby trophy after a momentous 42-27 win at Aviva Stadium on Sunday (AEDT).

France decisively took over the lead of the championship with a bonus point victory and can clinch their first title since 2022 in the final round at home next Sunday (AEDT) when they host Scotland.

Meanwhile, Ireland's Grand Slam hopes were destroyed in the fourth round for a second straight year, and their hopes of a third successive outright title, unprecedented in the tournament's 142 year history, were probably sunk.

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England are also in the title picture, barring an upset at home against Italy on Monday (AEDT), but France's other big advantage is an extremely healthy points differential of +106, which is 93 points better than Ireland.

The breadth of France's win by five tries to three, running up their highest score in Ireland, was even more impressive in the absence for the last 50 minutes of injured captain Antoine Dupont.

A bad injury to the talismanic scrumhalf prompted France coach Fabien Galthie to cite Ireland's Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter.

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Dupont was forced off in the 29th minute when his right knee buckled inward as Ireland cleared out a ruck.

"We suspect it's a fairly serious knee injury," Galthie said.

"I won't go into details because of medical confidentiality, and we have to wait for more in depth tests. Antoine is suffering and we are suffering with him.

"We have cited the players summoned to appear before the disciplinary committee: Beirne and Porter on Antoine's injury, (Calvin) Nash on the contact that caused Pierre-Louis Barassi to go off (and he) did not respond to the concussion protocol.

"Their players returned. On our side, the players did not return. We are angry."

Planet Rugby reported Dupont could be set for 6-8 months on the sidelines with an ACL injury.

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Meanwhile, Barassi failed a head check after a head-on-head tackle by Nash, who was yellow carded after the second half incident.

Australia's Angus Gardner was the referee for the match.

"We want to protect our players," Galthie said.

"There are rules, we need to understand."

Ireland interim coach Simon Easterby put down Dupont's injury "as just a rugby incident."

"Tadhg cleans out someone in front of Antoine Dupont and he gets hit off the back of it. It happens, unfortunately. Players have a real awareness now of clearing out on the lower limb of the player, which can create that type of injury, but that wasn't the case. He was securing his own ball and not making contact on Dupont. It's just one of those things unfortunately. It happens in the game."

As to the result, however, the French were overjoyed.

"When great moments like this happen, we can thank each other, players and staff," Galthie said.

"We weren't given anything, we earned everything. At halftime in our dressing room there were good vibes, a mix between real ambition and real anger."

France 'bomb squad' makes a difference

When Dupont limped off, France were leading 5-0 and the momentum was swinging their way.

France were on the ropes for the first 15 minutes, absorbing waves of Irish attacks.

But when lock Joe McCarthy was sinbinned for a cynical foul, Dupont set up winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey for the first of his two tries against the run of play.

Ireland, trailing by two at halftime, led 13-8 soon after, but for only four minutes.

Flanker Paul Boudehent crashed over after offloads by prop Jean-Baptiste Gros and Maxime Lucu, Dupont's replacement.

In a double blow to Ireland, winger Calvin Nash was yellow carded for a head-on-head tackle and France pulled away from there thanks to unleashing the seven reserves forwards off the bench.

Ireland couldn't withstand the injection of fresh power.

A France counter ruck in their own half led to Damian Penaud freeing his fellow winger Bielle-Biarrey, who grubbered ahead and beat Lucu to ground the ball.

The try was Bielle-Biarrey's tournament leading seventh, and 17th in 18 Tests.

Replacement lock Oscar Jegou scored his first Test try and, while Gros was in the sin bin, Thomas Ramos intercepted Ireland's Sam Prendergast 10m out from his own try line and let Penaud finish between the posts for his 38th Test try, tying the France record of Serge Blanco.

Ramos, as ever, was unerring by nailing his last seven goal kicks.

Lowe injured in warmup

With victory long secure at 42-13, France took their foot off the pedal, and Ireland scored the last two tries, one of them to caps record holder Cian Healy, who was playing his last Test at home along with Conor Murray and Peter O'Mahony.

"It was a bit of a rollercoaster," Ireland captain Caelan Doris said.

"We weren't clinical enough early on. We thought we were in contention at halftime, we felt confident. We started well and thought we could go on but that 25 minute period in the middle of the second half was where we just weren't good enough - our collisions, our discipline.

"They can create something from nothing with go forward ball, and that's what happened two or three times in a row."

Ireland was dealt a major blow moments before kickoff when winger James Lowe suffered a back spasm in the warmup and had to withdraw.

But the way Ireland started suggested France was in for a long afternoon.

The Irish camped in the French 22 but breached an equally fierce defence only once, and Doris was held up over the line by opposite Gregory Alldritt.

After McCarthy's yellow card, his heft was missed when France mauled a lineout infield, shortened the defence and Bielle-Biarrey scored in a seventh straight Test, eclipsing Penaud's France record.

Dupont then exited, exposing France's risk of a 7-1 bench with only one back reserve.

But the gamble paid off handsomely.

Lucu was outstanding and the "bomb squad," notably Emmanuel Meafou and Julien Marchand, overpowered a tiring Ireland in the third quarter.