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'Madness': How the media reacted to Peter O'Mahony's red card in Ireland's Six Nations defeat to Wales
By Sam Smith
"Madness" is the way one headline put it, as a red card against Ireland helped under-siege Kiwi coach Wayne Pivac to his best win in charge of Wales.
Irish loose forward Peter O'Mahony was widely condemned for the act which saw him marched in the 13th minute by referee Wayne Barnes, as Wales won the Six Nations clash 21 – 16.
It was just the fourth victory for Pivac - the former NPC and Fiji coach - in 11 matches, with his best previous results coming against Six Nations battlers Italy and lowly Georgia.
The Welsh effort didn't receive much praise, however, with criticism of their lineout and lack of creativity when enjoying a one man advantage.
O'Mahony had made the Welsh job easier when he charged into a ruck and elbowed prop Tom Francis in the head.
After reviewing the incident with the video ref, Barnes said: "He's come in from a distance at high speed and hit someone in the head. He's not in control, it's high danger. It's definitely foul play."
He became the fifth Irish player ever to be sent off, and the first in Six Nations rugby.
WalesOnline headlined the incident 'Madness – Peter O'Mahony red card leaves Wales angry and fans in disbelief'.
Former Welsh international Jonathan Davies was among those condemning the act, saying: "That's a clear attack on the head. It's a red card, nothing else."
And former Irish forward Jamie Heaslip, a BBC commentator, said: "If we're looking after players, there's only one option the referee can give him."
Wales were returning to their beloved Principality Stadium, which had been used as a coronavirus hospital last year.
Cardiff is usually a vibrant city on big match day but the atmosphere was described as eerie during spectator-free Covid-19 times.
A superb first half from the great Irish playmaker Johnny Sexton saw the visitors lead 13 – 6 at the break.
Excellent finishing by wing Louis Rees-Zammit gave Wales the lead, but they had to withstand a powerful Ireland finish with a magnificent Justin Tipuric tackle on Garry Ringrose the defensive highlight.
Ireland were their own worst enemy with Billy Burns, who replaced the injured Sexton, missing touch with a final penalty, as he sought to gain maximum distance.
Sexton said: "We only have ourselves to blame.
"We spoke about discipline earlier in the week and that let us down at key times as well as some unforced errors."
But he also questioned some of the Welsh tackling which went unpunished, particularly a Johnny Williams tackle on Ringrose.
"We get red carded for a high tackle and they don't get penalised for one," he said.
Meanwhile the Telegraph said: "The knives were being sharpened for Pivac at the break but Wales just about scraped home…at least partly thanks to a bizarre finish (with) Billy Burns kicking the ball dead."
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Latest Comments
Yes that’s what WR needs to look at. Football had the same problem with european powerhouses getting all the latin talent then you’re gaurenteed to get the odd late bloomer (21/22 etc, all the best footballers can play for the country much younger to get locked) star changing his allegiance.
They used youth rep selection for locking national elifibilty at one point etc. Then later only counted residency after the age of 18 (make clubs/nations like in this case wait even longer).
That’s what I’m talking about, not changing allegiance in rugby (were it can only be captured by the senior side), where it is still the senior side. Oh yeah, good point about CJ, so in most cases we probably want kids to be able to switch allegiance, were say someone like Lemoto could rep Tonga (if he wasn’t so good) but still play for Australia’s seniors, while in someone like Kite’s (the last aussie kid to go to France) case he’ll be French qualified via 5 years residency at the age of 21, so France to lock him up before Aussie even get a chance to select him. But if we use footballs regulations, who I’m suggesting WR need to get their a into g replicating, he would only start his 5 years once he turns 18 or whatever, meaning 23 yo is as soon as anyone can switch, and when if they’re good enough teams like NZ and Aus can select them (France don’t give a f, they select anybody just to lock them).
Go to commentsThe only benefit of the draft idea is league competitiveness. There would be absolutely no commercial value in a draft with rugby’s current interest levels.
I wonder what came first in america? I’m assuming it’s commercial aspect just built overtime and was a side effect essentially.
But the idea is not without merit as a goal. The first step towards being able to implement a draft being be creating it’s source of draftees. Where would you have the players come from? NFL uses college, and players of an age around 22 are generally able to step straight into the NFL. Baseball uses School and kids (obviously nowhere near pro level being 3/4 years younger) are sent to minor league clubs for a few years, the equivalent of the Super Rugby academies. I don’t think the latter is possible legally, and probably the most unethical and pointless, so do we create a University scene that builds on and up from the School scene? There is a lot of merit in that and it would tie in much better with our future partners in Japan and America.
Can we used the club scene and dispose of the Super Rugby academies? The benefit of this is that players have no association to their Super side, ie theyre not being drafted elshwere after spending time as a Blues or Chiefs player etc, it removes the negative of investing in a player just to benefit another club. The disadvantage of course is that now the players have nowhere near the quality of coaching and each countries U20s results will suffer (supposedly).
Or are we just doing something really dirty and making a rule that the only players under the age of 22 (that can sign a pro contract..) that a Super side can contract are those that come from the draft? Any player wanting to upgrade from an academy to full contract has to opt into the draft?
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