Ridiculous 20-minute red card cost Wales famous win

Ireland passed their test in Cardiff with a win against Wales in Round 3 of the Six Nations Championship.

It was more chaotic than comfortable. A new-look Wales changed the whole landscape of their future with a very progressive attacking shape under Matt Sherratt.

It's an attacking shape that caught out Garry Ringrose as he misjudged his attempted dominant tackle on Ben Thomas. I’m surprised it’s not something that’s been highlighted, but Thomas used excellent footwork to disguise the direction in which he wished to travel. Garry Ringrose bought the dummy step and fired himself like a missile at Thomas, colliding with the Welsh inside centre’s head in the meantime.

It was a careless attempt from Ringrose, and deserved to be sanctioned. He was initially sent to the sin bin for a review, checking whether the card should be upgraded to red or be kept as a yellow.

In many cases I would err on the side of the harsher punishment, even if it’s a team I’m supporting. If we are to make the game safer, then sometimes a player will suffer the consequences of their unintended actions.

However, in this instance, while I don’t disagree with the red card, I find it unfair that Ringrose wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt because of Thomas’ change of direction before the tackle. Thomas stepped inside, at which time I think Ringrose committed, and when Thomas stepped back towards him, Ringrose had given himself no time to change his actions.

For clarity, it’s only Ringrose that made the decision to launch in for a big hit. That was his error. Thomas did nothing to deserve it and Ringrose should have more control over his footwork at the tackle line. But, a change of direction has always been one of the actions of mitigation that referees