Referees have a tough time of it, but eyebrows have to be raised when both sets of fans and neutral spectators have reasons to give out about the referee.
Irish fans were annoyed with Garces insistence not to call the choke tackles and some potential illegalities at scrumtime from Welsh loosehead Rob Evans; and Wales were equally as upset about Garces harsh call to penalise Rhys Priestland when Payne's pass into his shoulder, as well as some leniency at the breakdown for both sides.
Here's how twitter reacted to Garces:
Mr Garces not too sharp when it comes to picking up torpedo tackles. How can he manage to miss what's painfully obvious?
— Brendan Fanning (@BrendanFanning) February 7, 2016
Garces has forgotten about the penalty, said it was Tipuric offside before going upstairs
— Rúaidhrí O'Connor (@RuaidhriOC) February 7, 2016
Wales could have Tom Brady playing for them for all Garces is going to call a forward pass
— Michael McCarthy (@McCarthyMick) February 7, 2016
Best needs to get Garces over to the LH side for next scrum. No point in complaining after, get him on it now if IRL feel there's an issue.
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) February 7, 2016
Jerome Garces misses a blatant forward pass and Wales continue to attack just outside the Irish 22' #IREvWAL
— #OTBAM (@OffTheBallAM) February 7, 2016
Garces doesn't care about the tackled player not releasing the ball #IREvWAL
— Eoin Shanley (@eoin_shanley) February 7, 2016
No Garces, sorry. Priestland completely in line to intercept, palms facing up. So you're not allowed to go for anything anymore? Farcical.
— Nick Heath (@nickheathsport) February 7, 2016
Garces' ignorance of the laws is inexcusable. Makes the game v hard to watch. j10 was apoplectic at one point. Not surprising.
— Patrick Logan 💙 (@paddylogan13) February 7, 2016
Choke tackle not on Garces radar
— Harpin' On Rugby (@HarpinOnRugby) February 7, 2016
@Rob_Whitefield @WelshCauldron @cianlloyd @Tinkerbellbow true but still annoyed with Garces. Awful standard of reffing
— #FBIW Welsh Rugby Mad dragon 🐲 (@wru4me) February 7, 2016
See Also: Everything That Was Great About CJ Stander's Epic Ireland Debut
Picture credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
