In the wake of their Six Nations loss to France, Irish players and their partners have reportedly faced threats and abuse. Post-match tensions escalated following Saturday's clash in Dublin where France sealed a 42-27 win - with French head coach Fabian Galthie slamming Ireland's Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter for "reprehensible" behaviour. The hostilities arose after France's star man Antoine Dupont sustained a season-ending injury due to an incident involving both Beirne and Porter in the first half at the Aviva Stadium. The scrum-half was forced off the field with an ACL rupture after a collision where Beirne landed on his leg, leading a furious Galthie to call out the actions of the Irish pair to the citing commissioner. However, no subsequent disciplinary measures were enforced, inciting additional outrage from the French camp, especially after referee Angus Gardner chose not to review the incident on the pitch – a decision that French Rugby Federation chief Florian Grill found "disturbing". However, the controversy shows no sign of going away just yet, with former Ireland back Andrew Conway claiming that members of Simon Easterby's side have received "threatening messages" towards them and their partners in the aftermath of Saturday's match. "I touched on last year's reaction on social media to the lads losing to England, and it's been very similar after Saturday's game in Dublin," Conway wrote his column for the Six Nations website, via Wales Online. "Players getting threatening messages on social media that don't just go to them but to their wives and partners too. "It's enormously sad that people – who are probably respectable enough in normal life – go on the internet and send direct messages threatening athletes based on something that happened in a game. I am sure their parents or kids are proud!" The ex-Munster ace also jumped to Beirne's defence, saying he's "the nicest person you could possibly meet" while highlighting that the Ireland lock would be "really hurting" by Dupont's injury. Conway further slammed Galthie's response as "reckless", adding that surely the French players would understand it was an unintentional mishap with no ill will behind it. "I understand why France have expressed so much emotion around the injury to Antoine Dupont, but I felt that Fabien Galthié's reaction was reckless," he said. "There can be a bit of gamesmanship with these things as well. The French players will know that there wasn't one ounce of malice in what happened to Dupont. "I suppose at times the coach's job is to create a particular perception around a rival team, and while I disagree with how he did it, I also don't necessarily think that Galthié believes that it was a malicious move on Ireland's part – and in particular Tadhg Beirne's. "For people that don't know Tadhg as a person, all they will see is this incredible competitor on match days with a scrum hat on, competing for everything. I've met a lot of people throughout my rugby career, and of all the players that I know really well, Tadhg is genuinely the nicest person that you could possibly meet. There's not one bad bone in that man's body. To a fault. He's very sensitive and this would be really hurting him." Conway's defence comes after Porter denied intentionally hurting Dupont and said Galthie's reaction was a "bit much", adding: "He can say what he wants, see how far it gets him. I even sent Antoine a message on Instagram just to see how he was and obviously you never want to see anyone going off the pitch like that. "If you have the head coach calling for your head, it's a bit much. But he's such a pivotal player for them that they nearly don't want him to be touched at all. Look, [Galthie] is entitled to his opinion but I know I haven't done anything wrong there. I sleep well at night."