Andy Farrell vehemently denied rumors that implied Mack Hansen’s omission from the initial matchday 23 for last weekend’s World Cup opener against Romania was related to disciplinary issues.
The Ireland head coach was speaking ahead of his sides clash with Tonga this weekend.
Where the hell did all that come from?” said Farrell in Nantes today.
“Left out of the 23? No.
“We wanted to give someone else a game, as simple as that. And case in point, actually, as far as everyone being ready to go, it’s exactly the same this weekend.
“So if Robbie pulls up on Friday and Mack is covering three different positions off the bench and did superbly for that, that’s the type of thing that needs to happen within a World Cup.
“Mack’s up next so you can ask him the question as well was he a naughty boy, he definitely wasn’t!”
“No clear evidence” – Nigel Owens weighs in on Tom Curry’s red card and Jesse Kriel tackle
From Tom Curry’s red card, to the head contact in South Africa v Scotland, get all the analysis from Nigel Owens latest episode of Whistle Watch right here.
#1. Will Jordan yellow card
He said: “Right then, why do we start out in the opening game in Paris, France? New Zealand, we had Will Jordan receive a yellow card, or was it Cotton Juan? I think that’s right for a yellow card, isn’t it? Playing a man in the air.
“Now, some will be saying, “Wow, that’s a bit unlucky,” because his eyes are always on the ball. That is irrelevant. Once a player is in the air catching the ball, the onus is on the player on the ground to make sure that he does nothing to put that player in danger.
“Now, what he can do – he can’t jump and compete for the ball. And if he’s competing or is in a realistic position to compete for that ball and then there’s contact, then we don’t have foul play, and we have play on. But because he’s not in a realistic position here to contest the ball, it then becomes illegal contact in the air – dangerous play.
“And then, it becomes all to do with the way that the player landed. Now, don’t get mixed up – if the player doesn’t land on his head, it doesn’t mean it’s not a red card. If the referee or the bunker felt that he was still in a dangerous landing, then they could still warrant a red card. But in this instance here, they didn’t feel it was a red card threshold, and quite rightly so, they gave a yellow card.
“So just remember, eyes on the ball is no excuse if you’re making contact with the player in the air.”