"The IRFU may be disconnected from a chunk of their audience on the price of Test rugby at Lansdowne Road but at least those who ponied up large can claim to have witnessed a truly crazy match. In the 2013 Six Nations in Rome Ireland had their backline sundered by a freakish run of injuries, leaving holes being filled by men who didn't know how to hold a shovel."
"Mad stuff, at the end of which the world champions stumbled to a win that should have been managed with half the effort. The passage to the overflowing sin bin was halted only by the half-time whistle, at which point the referee, Matt Carley, was booed off the field with a venom you don't often get at these events. Their sense of injustice kicked off with the decision not to card Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for a dangerous tackle on Tommy O'Brien."
High ticket prices at Lansdowne Road contrasted with an extraordinary, chaotic match that produced multiple sin-bin and red-card incidents. Ireland endured a sequence of dismissals and injuries that left the side undermanned during key periods. James Ryan received a red card for a no-arms clean out on Malcolm Marx, and several replacements were subsequently penalised in the frantic final minutes of the first half. The referee faced heavy boos at half-time after contentious decisions, including not carding Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. South Africa led 19-7 at half and capitalised on scrum dominance to secure the victory.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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