All Blacks great slams Tadhg Beirne’s ‘absolute joke’ red card and issues warning to World Rugby
Tadhg Beirne after being sent-off against All Blacks and the hit on Beauden Barrett which led to it.
All Blacks great Israel Dagg has hit out at the red card handed down to Tadhg Beirne in Ireland’s defeat to New Zealand in Chicago on Saturday.
Although Scott Robertson’s side were the beneficiaries of the call, the 37-year-old was angered by the decision to end the lock’s game early.
Beirne was initially sin-binned after his shoulder connected with the head of All Blacks fly-half Beauden Barrett before it was upgraded by the Foul Play Review Officer.
Beirne bracing for Barrett
There was no attempted legal tackle as such but the Ireland star braced for contact after Barrett received the ball – from what appeared to be a forward pass – on the gain line.
It looked like Beirne was absorbing the hit, rather than leaning into Barrett, and Dagg was utterly bemused as to why the incident constituted a 20-minute red card.
“That red card was an absolute joke, what a joke that is. Someone’s running towards you, they don’t look like they’re going to get the ball but you want to brace, what are you going to do? You’re going to put your arms up and brace?” he said on Sport Nations’ Scotty and Izzy show.
“I’m thinking that because the rules are the rules, the yellow card is a yellow card. Any contact with the head, I can understand that – it’s 10 minutes and a yellow card, sweet as.
“The ref comes up and says it’s been given a red card. A red card for what!? It’s shocking, absolutely shocking, and that in itself is where this game is at because the officials are up there, sitting in a box, sipping on their lattes are watching this game.”
There was plenty of hype ahead of the Ireland v All Blacks clash, particularly with it taking place in front of a sold-out Soldier Field in Chicago.
The hope was that it would promote the best of the game to the American market and, while there were some spectacular moments, the biggest talking point has become that red card.
The concern for rugby
Dagg himself was not in the US, but he was watching in an airport in New Zealand and heard a comment which should provide a stark warning to World Rugby.
“Some of the things going on, on that field, and I’m not talking from a player’s point of view, I’m talking about the stop-start situation,” he said.
“I’m sitting in the airport and I’m sitting next to a guy who I think is a fan but not a huge fan and he said: ‘This is why people are switching off rugby’.”
The 2011 Rugby World Cup winner may only be relatively recently retired having hung up his boots in 2019, but Dagg has sympathy for the current players.
“It must be hard to play like that, when you’re out there on the field and you’ve got the referees, the officials in the back of your mind, you must be relatively apprehensive about doing certain things,” he added.
“I’m just trying to put myself in their shoes. I’m thinking I would hate it out there knowing that everything’s going to be critiqued and something like that could ruin the game.”