Women's Rugby World Cup BITING storm: French woman sparks fury as she appears to bite opponent - and it goes unpunished

The Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday were marred by claims that a French player had BITTEN her Irish opponent.

France flanker Axelle Berthoumieu, 25, was caught on TV coverage appearing to bite into the arm of Ireland's Aoife Wafer during the game at Sandy Park in Exeter.

Ireland captain Sam Monaghan asked the match referee about the alleged biting incident during the loss to France and said team-mate Aoife Wafer claimed she was bitten by Berthoumieu.

Video of the incident by BBC showed Berthoumieu on the bottom of a ruck with her mouth apparently on the arm of Wafer. Wafer then seemed to show her arm to referee Aimee Barrett-Theron.

'I spoke to the referee,' Monaghan said. 'Aoife told me, I didn't see it myself, but I spoke to the referee and asked them.'

The quarter-final's Television Match Official (TMO) was not heard to have reported back on any extra check on the incident and Berthoumieu was not punished.

Ireland could ask for the incident to be reviewed again but it will not change their elimination from the tournament. 

Ireland coach Scott Bemand was asked about it after his side lost 18-13.

'I think in terms of process, your on-pitch leadership would mention to the referee,' Bemand said. 'Then it's up to the team officials to deal with it, should they see fit at that point.

'At the moment, I haven't seen anything. 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.'

Meanwhile, England scored six tries against Scotland to triumph 40-8 and reach the semi-finals. They will face France on Saturday.

New Zealand play Canada in the other semi-final on Friday.