Shane Lowry sums up feelings of Irish rugby fans after South Africa loss
Shane Lowry shared the opinion of many Irish fans after Saturday night’s defeat to South Africa in Dublin.
The golfer joined plenty of others in their frustration with a series of game-changing incidents in the first half.
Referee Matthew Carley took charge of the Test but did not leave the pitch a popular man in the eyes of the Irish faithful.
Referee Matthew Carley became the centre of attention in the clash. Pic: Gary Carr/INPHO
His decision not to card South Africa fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for his challenge on Tommy O’Brien raised a lot of eyebrows, especially as it appeared to be a no-arms hit that made contact very close to his head.
Despite letting this fly, Carley made sure to card James Ryan for a similar challenge just minutes later.
Ryan’s clear out on Springboks hooker Malcolm Marx was deemed to have been a high level of danger as he didn’t wrap and made clear contact to Marx’s head.
Ireland fans became increasingly frustrated. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho
He was given a yellow card and upon bunker review, it was upgraded to a 20-minute red card, which enraged the Irish fans even more.
The English referee also sent four other Irish players to the sin bin throughout the game, while emerging as the main talking point from the Aviva.
Carley was even met with a chorus of boos at half-time after awarding a penalty try.
Lowry hit out at the referee on social media. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
Lowry voiced his frustration over the referee’s performance on social media and many fans shared his opinion.
He wrote: ‘These rugby referees really do like to make it about themselves…’
Ireland started the second half with 12 men after Sam Prendergast and Jack Crowley received yellow cards within minutes of each other and South Africa’s scrum dominance saw Andrew Porter also sin binned.
Despite the controversy, Ireland were well beaten by the visitors in the capital.
This was acknowledged by fans, but they still felt aggrieved by Carley’s performance.
One X user wrote: ‘Matthew Carley has completely lost the plot here.’
Another shared: ‘Carley going to start carding the Irish fans in the Aviva when he runs out of Irish players.’
A third added: ‘This is the worst display of refereeing I have ever seen. Making a travesty of the game.’
Yet another agreed: ‘The referee needs to be taken off for a HIA. Wild.’
