Rugby great claims Ireland ‘have form’ for dirty play

"For years they’ve pushed the breakdown chaos well past what is either acceptable or safe"

David Campese has made inflammatory claims about Ireland, following their heavy Six Nations defeat to France on Saturday.

French fans were unhappy over some of Ireland's play, which included Tadhg Beirne falling on the leg of Antoine Dupont, with the scrum-half suffering a serious injury to his cruciate.

Springbok supporters also chimed in, comparing the incident to a similar one during Ireland's tour to South Africa last summer, where a clear out from Caelan Doris and James Ryan resulted in a broken leg for Malcolm Marx.

Peter O'Mahony also came under fire after taking out two players in separate incidents while going for a charge down.

Writing for Planet Rugby, Aussie legend Campese made some damning claims about Ireland and Leinster:

For years Ireland and Leinster have been getting away with reckless and wild clearing at the breakdown. It’s co-ordinated chaos in their eyes, but in the eyes of other professional players they consistently go way beyond what’s acceptable on the pitch.

Was the clear-out a clear targeting of the lower limb as the law is written? In all honesty I don’t think it was. However, was it reckless and dangerous, a question that didn’t appear to be asked?

The former winger even called out Josh van der Flier for simulation in Leinster's Champions Cup semi-final win over Toulouse in 2023, which saw prop Rodrigue Neti yellow carded for a head butt on Van Der Flier.

Campese added: "Let’s be honest, Ireland have form for this.

"For years they’ve pushed the breakdown chaos well past what is either acceptable or safe – just ask Malcolm Marx, a victim of a similar and possibly even worse incident in the summer for South Africa against Ireland.

"We saw Josh van der Flier flying into a ruck two years ago in the EPCR Champions Cup, clash heads with one of the opposition props and then have the temerity to play the victim to the referee! So I don’t buy Irish innocence in this instance simply because of the amount of previous, proven or unproven, that they have.