Ex-Ireland star accuses ‘player of the match’ ref of ruining Springboks contest
Referee Matthew Carley and an insert of Ireland prop Andrew Porter.
Former Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris has slammed the performance of referee Matthew Carley at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The English official brandished six cards during the clash between the Springboks and Ireland in Dublin, five of which went to the hosts and included a 20-minute red card to James Ryan.
Props Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy were both yellow-carded for their illegalities at scrum time, while Jack Crowley was sin-binned for a cynical penalty at a ruck.
Fellow fly-half Sam Prendergast was yellow-carded after being the last to infringe after a plethora of indiscretions by his teammates in the Ireland 22. Springbok scrum-half Grant Williams was similarly sanctioned later in the match.
Ryan was the first to be carded after he flew into a ruck with a tucked shoulder and collided with Bok hooker Malcolm Marx, with his actions sent to be reviewed by the Foul Play Review Officer, who opted to upgrade the yellow card to a red.
Centre of attention
That came shortly after a controversial tackle by South African fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was lucky to escape further sanction after a dangerous tackle on Tommy O’Brien was deemed to be just a penalty.
While it was an incredibly ill-disciplined performance from Andy Farrell’s Ireland team, who were dominated at the set-pieces and spent 58% of the match in their own half, Ferris seemingly blamed the referee for his former team’s misgivings.
“A bizarre game,” he said on RTE Sport’s broadcast after the match.
“I think the player of the match should have gone to the referee; to be honest, he was the centre of attention the whole way throughout the game.
“I know he has a really, really tough job to do, but they also contribute massively to the flow in a game. It was just really disappointing because you wanted a contest that both teams were in for large parts, and the referee just had so many big decisions to make, some of which I disagreed with.”
The former Ulster back-rower didn’t immediately clarify which decisions he disagreed with, but did praise Ireland’s efforts in the latter stages of the match when they threatened a late comeback.
“It was a spirited second-half performance by Ireland. It almost felt like the fans were going home happy because they played a lot better in the second half,” he added.
“They finished the game really strongly. They got stuck into the South Africans. They may have given them a few things to think about. But yeah, I’ve actually no idea how to sum that game up because it was just mental.”