Ireland legend Brian O’Driscoll has weighed in on Sam Prendergast’s yellow card against Fiji.
The young Leinster fly-half earned his first start for Ireland in their victory over Fiji in the Autumn Nations Series and almost had his game cut short after a nasty hit in the opening 10 minutes of the match.
Referee Hollie Davidson sent Prendergast to the sin bin after the stand-off made a no-arms high tackle on Fijian flanker Kitione Salawa after he made a charging run down the touchline and sent a grubber through.
Controversial Sam Prendergast tackle
Davidson did not believe that the incident warranted a full straight red card so, as per World Rugby procedure, she sent the decision to be reviewed by the Foul Player Review Officer, Andrew McMenemy.
O’Driscoll was on commentary for the game for TNT Sports and at the time he stated it could well be a red card – which would have seen Ireland reduced to 14 men for 20 minutes with Prendergast then replaced, as per the red law trial in place – as he believed that there was “no mitigation”.
After the match, Fiji head coach Mick Byrne expressed his disappointment in the decision and felt that Ireland got preferential treatment from the officials.
“I think he was wearing a green jersey so it stayed yellow,” said Byrne.
Ireland boss Andy Farrell disagreed and felt that a yellow card was harsh enough.
“Ah, I get why it is but for me he turned his back and it’s harsh enough,” he said.
“I don’t know, I’ll have to have a look at it again but that’s the game, isn’t it?”
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🟨 Yellow on first start in 🔟 for Sam Prendergast!
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Brian O’Driscoll: ‘I thought he was very lucky’
O’Driscoll has maintained his view that it should have been a red card and admitted that Prendergast’s reputation possibly helped him avoid a sending-off.
In fact, the legendary centre added that had it been Farrell’s son, Owen, who had made the tackle then it would have been a different story.
“I thought he was very lucky with the yellow card. I thought it was red,” he told Off the Ball.
“Of course, he didn’t try and catch him on the chin, but he does. He definitely tries to go in and block him and he just catches him and they say it’s not high danger.
“So Mick Byrne, Fiji coach, said if he was wearing green, it would have been a different story. If it was Owen Farrell, it’s probably a different story.
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“I think his age, reputation, probably helped him because of course it wasn’t intentional, but we talked in commentary and Claire Thomas – who’s the anchor – saying throughout the week, all the conversation being are you [Prendergast] physically up to this etcetera, etcetera.
“She was like was that an attempted marker to be set? I don’t think it was, but I thought he was lucky.
He added: “I was feeling terrible for him because I thought it was going to go to red. I just thought that’s brutal for a guy’s first start. You know, with that much talent to be caught out that way. It’s not malicious but if but if you are trying to make a point and you and you catch someone the wrong way.”
The citing commissioner on the day did not share O’Driscoll’s view as Prendergast has not been cited and could feature in Ireland’s final game of the year as they face off against Australia at the Aviva Stadium.
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