Ireland legend bemoans ‘yellow card’ incident which ‘could have changed things dramatically’ in the defeat against Springboks
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the thick of the action for the Springboks against Ireland and ex-Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray (inset).
Conor Murray believes Springboks fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was lucky to escape punishment for a foul during his side’s victory over Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
The Springboks claimed a deserved 24-13 triumph, but the match was a chaotic affair as the home side were on the back foot for most of the match, as they received five cards.
James Ryan received a yellow card, which was upgraded to a 20-minute red, midway through the opening half, before Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, Andrew Porter and Paddy McCarthy also spent time in the sin bin.
And while legendary former Ireland scrum-half Murray had no qualms with those decisions, he feels referee Matthew Carley erred in not issuing a yellow card to Feinberg-Mngomezulu after what looked like a no-arms tackle on Tommy O’Brien early in the game.
‘I felt he had his arm tucked’
“In my opinion it was a yellow card. I felt he had his arm tucked and he didn’t look like he wanted to wrap,” Murray told the Ireland Rugby Social.
“In real time and at full speed there was intent and a bit of acceleration towards the end which you naturally do going into a tackle.
“He just mistimed it or whatever way he saw it. That could have changed things dramatically and as an Irish fan it’s very easy to feel hard done by.
“The way rugby is going, and with the rules and technicalities, it seems to be there is head contact, so gone, yellow card, but they have to be looked at separately, it’s at a weird stage at the minute with the officiating.”
Murray, who retired from Test rugby earlier this year after making 125 appearances for Ireland and also won eight Test caps with the British & Irish lions, believes his countrymen will be “frustrated” that their Autumn Nations Series campaign did not go according to plan, after losing to the Boks and All Blacks, but is still optimistic about his former team’s future.
“As an ex-player, I can see the level they’re capable of and the way they’re trying to play and executing it at times,” he said.
‘They will be realistic’
“They won’t be too down in the camp; they will be realistic in what they’re at and what they need to do to get to the level they want to be at.
“People from the outside will be like ‘loss at the start, two wins in the middle and a loss at the end’ and will think, is this negative? I really don’t think so, I think by the time the Six Nations comes round they will have sorted a lot of things out.”
Andy Farrell’s troops will return to action in the Six Nations next year and they kick off that campaign on February 5 against France in Paris.
Murray is confident Ireland will give a good account of themselves in next year’s Championship despite being war of Les Bleus and England.
“Unbelievable Six Nations coming up with the way England are playing, France have been playing for a long time and Scotland… they’re all there,” Murray said.
“Ireland, I won’t be writing them off, but I don’t know if people will. They might look at results and not think they are as strong as they were.”
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