Ireland have beaten New Zealand to record a famous series win over the All Blacks in Wellington. One of the pivotal moments of Ireland v New Zealand came in the second half when Wayne Barnes and his TMO mulled over a possible red card to Ireland's Andrew Porter.
Porter tackled gargantuan Kiwi lock Brodie Retallick and there was clear head-on-head impact. In slo-motion, it seemed very similar to the tackle by Kiwi prop Angus Ta’avao on Garry Ringrose last week - or for that matter, the tackle on James Ryan by Charlie Ewels in the England-Ireland game in the 2022 Six Nations. Both incidents resulted in a red card.
However, referee Wayne Barnes reviewed the decision with his TMO and felt that Porter deserved only a yellow card because he was 'absorbing the tackle'.
Retallick left the field for an HIA and did not return to the game. New Zealand would score two tries during the sin-binning but Ireland regained control of the game and did not relent. It's hard to imagine New Zealand losing the game if Porter had seen red.
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Ireland v New Zealand: Reaction to Porter yellow
The decision sparked a big debate on social media, especially in New Zealand
Why wasn't that a red? Almost identical to Ta'avao's head clash a week ago. Just no consistency.
— Marc Hinton (@marchintonffx) July 16, 2022
Brodie Retallick looks like he “absorbed” that tackle by breaking his eyes socket. #NZLvIRE
— Jim Hamilton (@jimhamilton4) July 16, 2022
What is rugby coming to?? Brodie Retallick bumps his head as he runs into Andrew Porter who doesn’t even have time to brace for the tackle! Yellow card! The law is an ass as they say! #NZvIRE
— Mo Allie (@MoAllie1) July 16, 2022
Absolutely disgraceful decision from Wayne Barnes. Last week a clear red this week a yellow. Referees and World Rugby need to get it consistent.@AllBlacks
— Daniel Rankin (@DanielRno7) July 16, 2022
Andrew Porter is a lucky boy.
Yellow card as Wayne Barnes judged that Porter absorbed the tackle. #NZLvIRE— Tight Five Rugby (@TightFive_Rugby) July 16, 2022
9 out of 10 times that’s a red ??
— Dane Galley (@DaneGalley) July 16, 2022
The decision by Barnes will give more fuel to the fire to those who say that rugby's head tackling rules are not applied with consistency.
During the week, embattled New Zealand coach Ian Foster called for a review of the red card process in rugby.
It's well documented that they're [red cards] dominating the game.
It's not helping the spectacle. I understand the reasons but it probably needs a decent debate...
It's [the debate is] certainly happening behind the scenes, and it's getting that balance between the player welfare side of it, and that arguments strong. And then you get the fan-centric side of it, and that argument's strong.
And then you get the people who are actually playing the game, who prepare all week to play a game and then suddenly that gets disrupted.
What can we take responsibility for? Well, our technique and discipline, and we've got to be strong on that.
But I think there is a wider discussion about where the game is going and do we want to keep seeing contests that are a little bit lopsided in numbers? I think the answer everyone would say is no to that. I think we've got to find a way.
We can't see this debate ending any time soon. Most Ireland fans feel that Ireland were lucky not to be down to 14 for the game. On these decisions, Test series are won.
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