World Rugby has cited Manae Feleu and Axelle Berthoumieu for foul play in France's win over Ireland in their Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final, with Berthoumieu facing possible sanctions for an apparent bite on Aoife Wafer.
Scott Bemand refused to be drawn on the incident in the aftermath of the side's Women’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final loss.
Feleu's citing arose from a dangerous tackle and both women could now miss next weekend's semi-final encounter with hosts England in Bristol.
Ireland led 13-0 at half-time but fell behind with 12 minutes to play before losing 18-13 at Sandy Park in Exeter.
TV footage, shared on social media, appeared to show a bite on Wafer’s arm by Berthoumieu.
"We’ve literally just stepped off the pitch," Bemand said of the controversy in the post-match press conference.
"If there’s any bits to pick up, we’ll pick up in the next hour.
"I think in terms of process, your on-pitch leadership would mention to the referee.
"Then it’s up to the team officials to deal with it should they see fit at that point.
"I’m not going to get drawn into anything at this point.
"At the moment, I haven’t seen anything. As I said, I’ve literally stepped in here.
"If there are bits to pursue, we could potentially be disappointed but we’ve followed the process as best we can from our perspective in terms of the on-pitch conversations."
Captain Sam Monaghan (below) said that the officials were made aware of the incident on the field.
"I spoke to the referee, I didn’t see it," said Monaghan.
"I spoke to the referee and asked could they have a look at it. [The check] was through TMO."
France joint-coach Gaelle Mignot said: "We have not seen the images. We have been celebrating in the changing rooms. We will see what happens."
Meanwhile, Bemand said his primary emotion following the narrow defeat was pride.
"I'm really proud, really proud of the group and where they've come from in the two years is my immediate piece," he told RTÉ Sport.
"It was a tough Test match today, the occasion - you think a year ago, that group might have felt the occasion more but I could see it in the eyes of the players when they stepped off the bus... the Irish support has been fantastic all the way through the competition.
"The crowd was singing the Field of Athenry and our group don't get daunted by that any more. They get excited by it.
"It was a tough Test match in terms of conditions, we tried to play the conditions really, really well. There were some bits that that worked, some bits put us under pressure.
"And with a young group, we've always been talking about the next four-year cycle as well, we know that this group is going to stick together, and this group's going to get better and better."
'We can really hold our heads high'
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 14, 2025
Sam Monaghan speaks to us about the disappointment of losing to France in the World Cup quarter-final
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Monaghan added: "Look, that's what I asked from the girls at the start of the game. 'Don't let the moment pass by you, leave everything you can out there'. I truly believe we did.
"You can see it in the player's faces, they are heartbroken. But it's such a proud [dressing-room].
"I couldn't ask for more from them. We gave it all, we brought them to 90 minutes, probably, in the end with the five minutes from the first half, but I'm extremely proud of this group.
"It is a young group as Scott said. Only one player out of 32 has experienced a World Cup before, so you know, if you do look back two years ago, we were competing in WXV3, and we were very, very close to winning a World Cup quarter-final there.
"We're gutted, we're heartbroken. We know we could have had that game, but we'll hold our heads high, rebuild and go again."
