French bite back with accusations

THE French Rugby Federation (FFR) met last night to decide what, if any, disciplinary action they will take against prop Franck Tournaire for allegedly stamping on Ireland replacement hooker Allan Clarke in the 44th minute of the international at Lansdowne Road last Saturday. It is anticipated that the FFR will make an announcement today.

But it appears as if the FFR are engaged in a tit for tat policy as they are now accusing three Irish players of foul play in the match and have referred the matter to the IRFU. The three players concerned are Ireland captain Keith Wood, second row Paddy Johns and scrum half Niall Hogan.

French and Irish officials watched a video on Saturday night of the incident involving Tournaire and Clarke and it was mutually decided that the matter would be dealt with by the FFR. The match commissioner John Dance (England) was not involved as Tournaire was not cited. Had he been cited and found guilty, the disciplinary action would not have been a matter for the FFR.

The FFR say that they have video evidence that shows the three Irish players committed acts of foul play that went unpunished. Whether that evidence comes from the official match video - the match was televised by RTE - is not clear. French television station France Two, who incidentally are the official sponsors to the French team, had a couple of cameras at the match. It is understood that film supplied by that outlet may be what the French are using to support their claim.

The secretary of the IRFU, Philip Browne, said yesterday that the FFR had contacted the IRFU about the alleged incidents and he added: "We have had a communication from the FFR and they are expressing concern about a number of alleged incidents involving three Irish players and have asked us to deal with the matter.

"We have not as yet received the video of the incidents from the FFR and when we get it, the video will be viewed by the appropriate people and haying done that, the position will be assessed. There is really nothing more I can say at this stage."

If the IRFU considers there is a case for the Irish players to answer, then it will be matter for the disciplinary subcommittee. But the players will have a right to offer a defence.

Browne, other Irish officials and the players concerned are to say the least surprised at the French allegations. No such allegations were made on Saturday night when the incident involving Tournaire was viewed by Syd Millar, one of Ireland's representatives on the International Board, Ireland manager Pat Whelan and Philip Browne. The FFR was represented by French manager Jo Maso, coach Jean Claude Skrela and his assistant Pierre Villepreux.

Browne said he did not know if the video the the FFR are sending cones from France Two. Certainly the match video did not highlight any incidents involving the Irish players, but the incident involving Tournaire is certainly very clearly shown.

Wood yesterday expressed "astonishment" at this latest development. "I must say I am astonished to hear what the French have done. I was penalised on a few occasions and in fact, I felt, harshly twice. But you have to accept that. I am not aware of anything I did that would warrant any such accusations.

I play hard and so do others but I can say categorically I most certainly did not do anything for which I was not penalised and quite frankly I am not worried in relation to this latest development, but I am annoyed at the suggestion and accusation."