Exonerated Ferris free to face France

Wayne Barnes should not have awarded a penalty against Stephen Ferris — let alone followed it up with a yellow card — for the tackle on Ian Evans which allowed Wales to snatch victory at Lansdowne Road last weekend.

That was the finding of the independent Six Nations’ disciplinary committee detailed with hearing the Ulster flanker’s citing charge in London, according to a statementissued by the Ireland team’s management last night.

Paul O’Connell admitted after the game he was stunned to hear theEnglish match official award a penalty for the incident and Irish incredulity was heightened when the Ulster flanker was sin-binned and duly cited by the match commissioner.