Aston Villa defender Richard Dunne has defended his reaction to Thierry Henry's hand-ball for France last month.

The Republic of Ireland captain has been criticised for sitting and talking calmly with Henry after the final whistle but he defended his peaceful attitude.

"I hadn't seen the incident at the time but he said he handled it and that we should be going to the finals and not them," Dunne said. "I'm not going to start punching people in the face. People might say in hindsight they would but where's that going to get us? It wouldn't take us to a World Cup and would probably get me a life ban. It doesn't change the result."