France's governing body have contacted World Rugby to get clarity over Garry Ringrose's ban in the Six Nations amid allegations of double standards.
French officials have expressed their frustration after the Irish international had a club match factored into a ban, while a France international had their own club fixture excluded from a ban earlier in the tournament.
The Leinster centre was red carded during Ireland's win over Wales in Cardiff last week, after he made head contact with Ben Thomas.
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The 30-year-old was initially shown a yellow card, before it was upgraded to a 20-minute red card after an off-field review - allowing Ireland to replace him later with Bundee Aki.
Ringrose was handed a three-match suspension after being charged with an act of foul play contrary to Law 9.13, which states that a player must not tackle an opponent early, late or dangerously.
The ban could be reduced to two if he completes World Rugby's coaching intervention programme - otherwise known as tackle school.
With just two rounds of Six Nations fixtures left, that should in theory be a long enough ban to rule Ringrose out of the rest of the tournament.
However, the initial three-match ban he was hit with included Leinster's United Rugby Championship win over Cardiff on the weekend, meaning that while he'll miss next weekend's clash with France, he'll be available for their final match of the tournament against Italy.
Specifically, it is the fact a URC game has been used as part of Ringrose's ban that has upset the French Rugby Federation (FFR). Using club games is nothing new in rugby's convoluted disciplinary process, but France's complaint is that Romain Ntamack was unable to use a Top 14 fixture as part of his ban when he was sent off - coincidentally also against Wales - earlier in the tournament.
The fly-half was dismissed late in France's 43-0 win over Wales in Paris at the start of the tournament - also for a high tackle on Thomas.
While Ntamack, just as Ringrose will do, had one match wiped off for attending tackle school, he still missed two Six Nations matches against England and Italy after Toulouse's fixture in the first fallow week wasn't included in the ban.
“Like everyone else, we were very surprised when we learned of the decision of SNRL (Six Nations Rugby Limited) concerning Garry Ringrose, in comparison with the terms of application of the sanction that had been imposed on Romain Ntamack,” FFR vice-president Jean-Marc Lhermet told Midi Olympique.
“However, the two cases seemed very comparable to us. This is why we contacted World Rugby for a request for explanations. We need to be enlightened as to what could have motivated such a difference.”
While Ireland were able to successfully argue that Leinster's win over Cardiff counted towards his ban, the FFR were unable to do the same with Toulouse match against Clermont.
It is understood that Ireland produced a document for each player which showed that Ringrose would be available for Leinster this weekend. However, France are understood to have done the same - with head coach Fabien Galthie claiming he had been considering releasing the fly-half to play for Toulouse.
Ntamack was playing in his first Test since August 2023, with the Wales clash his first international appearance since rupturing his ACL.
“What we see, looking back, is that Garry Ringrose never played for his province in these matches during the 6 Nations Tournament,” Lhermet added.
“With the information at our disposal, nothing suggests that this would have been the case this time. That is why we have made a request for explanations.”
