Ireland need to clean up their act in time for next Six Nations

DISCIPLINED: Ireland's Andrew Porter was one of four Irish yellows.

If any one Ireland player had cause to be frustrated as they struck camp and returned to the provinces this week then it must have been Tadhg Beirne.

Wrongly red-carded at the start of the month against the All Blacks in Chicago, the Munster forward had a crucial try cancelled at the back end of the window when James Ryan’s kamikaze clearout on Malcolm Marx reduced Ireland in number yet again.

If Ryan’s rush of blood was a key moment then so too was the incident less than ten minutes before when Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu inexplicably escaped with just the concession of a penalty for a high, no-arms clatter on Tommy O’Brien.

Referee Matthew Carley would feel the wrath of the Aviva Stadium crowd for the subsequent flurry of cards handed out to the home team, but none of those decisions were debatable in the manner of the Springbok No.10’s illegal and dangerous hit.

It was a decision that raised the question yet again about consistency when it comes to match officials in general. The criticism is that, for all the laws and procedures and officials put in place, these things can still prove to be something of a lottery.

"I don't want to comment on it really. It's not really my place,” said Beirne. “I think the officials are doing their best out there. Everything looks worse in slow-mo for sure. They're trying to make calls and they have their protocol and they'll make their judgments.

“We as players just have to accept their judgment on the day and go forward and try and put out our best performances after that. I don't envy them at all because it's a very difficult position to be in. Something can look really bad in slow-mo, but it is what it is.

“They're doing their best out there and that's all we can ask."

He’s right to tread carefully around that debate. Little good can come of it now. The priority for Ireland is instead to look in the mirror and ask why it is that their indiscipline continues to be such a problem, regardless of referees or interpretations.

There was a time – a long time – when Ireland were squeaky clean, or as close to it as you can in Test rugby. Keeping the penalty count in single figures is the metric of most value and they managed that with admirable frequency for campaigns on end.

Under both Joe Schmidt and Andy Farrell, in fact.

Jack Crowley tussles with RG Snyman of South Africa. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Ireland were still the least penalised team as recently as the 2023 Six Nation, with an average penalty concession of under nine per game. They didn’t earn a single card of either colour in all five games that spring, but that picture begins to change at the World Cup.

Thirteen penalties were given up against Tonga, nine in the epic against South Africa, just seven against the Scots, but ten in the quarter-final loss to New Zealand. They finished the tournament just south of ten charged offences per 80 minutes.

Months later and Beirne was admitting to mounting frustrations before the last Six Nations game against the Scots, by which time Ireland had the highest penalty count in the competition. Coughing up just four in round five mitigated that.

The average pushed past 11 on the summer tour to South Africa, hit ten in three games against tier one nations 12 months ago, dipped to eight in the 2025 Six Nations and maxed out at 12.6 this autumn in their meetings with New Zealand, Australia and the Springboks.

And there have been 16 cards in their last 20 Tests against top-tier opposition. Games against tier two opposition, including that summer tour to Georgia and Portugal when most of the front-liners were away and the opposition was weaker, have been omitted here.

Last Saturday’s torments at the scrum go a long way towards the recent spike in numbers but that shouldn’t obscure a wider picture that presents an Irish side that simply hasn’t been able to operate at the same elite level for some time now.

Farrell and his players have always made it a mantra not to compound errors but this is exactly what they are doing. The sight of Sam Prendergast and Tommy O’Brien both kicking straight to touch and losing ground against the Boks within minutes was one example of it.

What is the regular concession of penalties if not a compounding of errors? And there were annoyingly silly examples at the weekend: Ryan’s madness, James Lowe tackling Damian Willemse in the air, Jack Crowley’s yellow card for illegal play in a ruck.

"We talk about that a lot and it's on us to improve that area,” said Beirne. “We did compound a few errors and compounded penalty on penalty. That's just the sport sometimes.

“You have to be able to get back to the next moment after making an error and then try to change the momentum of the game.

“At times we weren't able to do that in the first-half. You've got to give credit to their world-class team, South Africa. They played to their strengths and they were able to keep the pressure on us. We needed to figure a way out and sometimes we didn't.” 

That has to change come the spring.