The Ireland star is free to play thanks to Beauden Barrett
The incident happened just minutes into the clash against the All Blacks (Image: TNT Sports)
Ireland forward Tadhg Beirne’s is free to play against Japan this weekend after his controversial red card against New Zealand was rescinded due to All Blacks star Beauden Barrett’s testimony.
The former Scarlets man was initially awarded a yellow card which was sent to a bunker review after he made contact with Barrett’s shoulder. After reviewing the footage Beirne’s yellow was upgraded into a 20-minute red card as Ireland slipped to a 26-13 defeat to the All Blacks in Chicago.
But the red card, which caused outrage from fans and pundits alike, was overturned by an independent disciplinary committee on Tuesday.
“Having considered the player’s and the other evidence and reviewed the footage, the disciplinary committee accepted the player’s submissions that whilst an act of foul play had occurred, it did not meet the red card threshold,” a statement read.
Barrett’s testimony appears to have played a big part in Beirne’s red card getting rescinded. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
“I was running a decoy line on the short side, inside-out, on the left side of the field (bench side),” Barrett told the disciplinary committee.
“The play wasn’t designed for me to receive the ball, and I didn’t expect to be involved. However, Cam (Roigard) passed me the ball unexpectedly.
“I caught it — more by luck than anticipation — and because I wasn’t prepared to carry, my body position was high and not committed with proper intent or force.
“As I carried into contact, I ran into a congested area, hoping Cam would play out the back. Initial contact was front-on and above the shoulder area.
“I take responsibility for entering contact in a high position, as that contributed to the nature of the collision.
“I don’t believe the opposing player could have done much differently — it was a contact sport situation, and fortunately, Tadgh showed good awareness and controlled his force, which prevented a more serious collision.”
As a result Beirne will not face any ban and is free to play against Japan this weekend. Join WalesOnline Rugby’s WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
“The player did move, fractionally up and into contact so he cannot properly be said to be passive,” wrote the independent panel.
“There is no other feature which might or does mitigate. Therefore, we have concluded by reference to the HCP that the appropriate sanction was a yellow card.
“We are required by application of World Rugby Regulation 17.16.3 to ‘expunge the Ordering Off (Red Card) from the player’s disciplinary record’ and do so.
“We have no power to substitute a yellow card for the red card. The player is free to play.
“None of this is a criticism of the match officials, whose task is extremely difficult and carried out under pressure of time. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
“We also had an additional angle which the IRFU provided which was pertinent to our assessment of the degree of danger.
“Had we been minded to uphold the red card we would have considered whether this was truly a breach of Law 9.13 or Law 9.11. Given our findings above it was not necessary to do so.”
You can read the full judgement here.
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