Andy Farrell fires back at Fiji boss after claims ‘green jersey’ saved Ireland prodigy from red card
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell speaking to Fiji boss Mick Byrne, and fly-half Sam Prendergast after being yellow carded.
Andy Farrell has responded after Fiji head coach Mick Byrne suggested that Ireland were the beneficiaries of a controversial officiating call.
Rookie fly-half Sam Prendergast, who was making his first Test start, was yellow carded after seven minutes when his shoulder connected with the head of the visitors’ Kitione Salawa.
The incident was then reviewed by the bunker who, to the surprise of many, decided that it should not be upgraded to a red.
Byrne was asked in his post-match press conference whether he felt the playmaker should have been sent-off and he quipped: “Aw no, I think he was wearing a green jersey so it stayed yellow”, implying that the only thing that saved him was the fact he was playing for Ireland.
Farrell’s view
Farrell disagreed with the Fiji boss, insisting that the sin-binning was “harsh enough”, although at that point he had yet to see it back.
“Ah, I get why it is [a yellow]. But to me, he turned his back and it’s harsh enough, that,” he said. “I don’t know, I’ll have to look at it again, but that’s the game isn’t it?
“I thought our discipline was pretty good in general and it certainly added to the reason why.
“If you look at the story of the game and you fast forward it, I thought territory-wise and dominance-wise – yes, a couple of execution bits could have been better – I thought our discipline added to our strong hold on the game.”
Despite the frustration of that early incident, Byrne had few complaints about the performance of referee Hollie Davidson after Fiji conceded 17 penalties.
“They’re [the penalties] probably on us, they’re definitely on us,” he added.
“But, at the end of the day, it’s on us, we need to get better and it’s not on the referee. But the 50-50s, that last try, if you have another look at it, the green jersey holding on to the white jersey, nothing happens with the TMO.
“I’m sure if it was the other way around, we might not have got that try allowed. But that’s our job.
“Our job is to present ourselves over the next two years so we earn the respect of World Rugby and we have to play a little bit better than we did today to get there.”
World Rugby ‘respect’
Captain Waisea Nayacalevu was also asked for his view and whether, in his coach’s words, it was more difficult for teams like Fiji to “earn the respect” from the game’s governing body and its match officials.
“I would say not really,” Nayacalevu said.
“We got out there and give our best. We train all week to be disciplined, to play the game the way we want to play and at the end of the day, the match officials make the calls.
“Sometimes it doesn’t go your way, which is frustrating. At the moment, it’s happening, and if we can have that fair play call, then we can play more entertaining rugby and we get more momentum as well going into our games, playing how we want to play.”
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