Fans were outraged online that this was missed by the officials.
Ireland hosted Italy at the Aviva Stadium for the third round of the Six Nations. Ireland came out 51 point winners in the end with a scoreline 57-6. However, many would say that this was a strange game.
Without a doubt a pivotal moment in the game was the red card shown to substitute Italian hooker Epalahame Faiva after 19 minutes of play. However, this red card had more drastic effects on the Italian chances than expected.
One law which is not often seen, was forced to be applied by Georgian Referee Nika Amashukeli, which caused a lot of confusion, especially for casual rugby fans.
With starting hooker Lucchesi having to leave the field due to injury after 9 minutes, he was replaced by Faiva. Faivas' red card meant that there was no other player qualified on the field to play in the front row. So, in accordance with the laws, a substitute prop was brought onto the field for the game to restart with uncontested scrums. However law 3.20 means that the team without any more suitable front row replacements must lose another player so that the non offending team do not lose their advantage with the scrums being uncontested. Italy, instead of having to play with 14 men, were forced to play with 13.
Without a doubt this moment cast a shadow over the entire fixture and result. This moment caused enough debate online in itself, However another moment which hadn’t received as much attention occurred much later in the game. Check out the moment below.
Many fans questioned why this challenge by substitute lock for Ireland, Ryan Baird wasn’t looked at by the officials. Many fans have noted how similar the challenge was to that of Faiva’s.
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