Ferris: Panel admitted ref got it wrong

It is the controversy that just won’t go away.

Stephen Ferris has reopened the debate over his tackle on Wales’ Ian Evans almost three weeks ago with a detailed description of his subsequent disciplinary hearing in London.

According to the Ulster man, he was told at the February 8th hearing that referee Wayne Barnes had made the wrong decision and that it had cost Ireland the game.

The flanker’s account chimes with that of team manager Mick Kearney who said at the time of the panel’s decision not to suspend the flanker for a foul that earned Wales a penalty and a yellow card for Ferris that “the disciplinary panel itself felt that the decision to award a penalty was incorrect”.

Kearney’s claims were subsequently refuted by the Six Nations and IRB who took the unusual step of making public the findings from the hearing which stressed at one point that there was “no express or implied criticism of either the match referee or the citing officer”.

It also said: “We cannot say that his decision at the time and in those circumstances was wrong” while a later statement added: “The IRB’s match officials performance review endorsed Barnes’ decision to award a penalty”.

Ferris talked at length about the tackle, his initial punishment, the citing which followed it and also described how Barnes’s testimony formed part of the proceedings on the day in London when replays of the incident were reviewed from a number of TV angles.

“He was on loudspeaker,” he said of the referee.” I didn’t say anything though but, yeah, we gave our side of the story and at the end of it they were like ‘I’m sorry, the wrong decision probably ended up costing you the game.”

When asked to confirm if someone actually uttered those words to him, he answered: “Yeah, so at that stage (we) just walked out and that was it.”

Ferris said that he had not read the committee’s report but when asked if he was aware that there was no suggestion therein that Barnes had been incorrect in awarding the penalty he replied: “No, I wasn’t aware of that — but I wouldn’t sit here and tell you lies”.

‘I fell on one knee and felt like the whole of Ireland was on me’

What isn’t up for debate is the sick feeling in the Ulsterman’s stomach when Barnes blew his whistle and raised his arm skywards with Ireland leading by two points and less than 60 seconds remaining in the 80 minutes.

“I think a lot of people didn’t realise what the penalty was for but as soon as I heard the whistle I knew straight away. I fell on one knee and just felt like the whole of Ireland was on top of me. When I made the tackle I thought it was fine and I think the majority of people did too.

“It’s one of those things, the referee has to make a decision where he sees it from. Had he been on the other side of the ruck I think there wouldn’t have been anything said about it but these things happen in professional sport. We haven’t had the rub of the green against Wales in the last couple of years but thesedecisions happen. These things happen but I think after that, when I was cleared and the decision was made that it was the wrong decision, it was good that I could forget about it, know that I hadn’t done anything wrong and push on.”

News that he was also going to be cited was “another kick in the teeth” but he booted to touch the suggestion that the incident would make him wary of how or when to tackle in future. “It’s just one of those things,” he said. “No, it’s definitely not at the back of my mind at all.”